GIFT   OF 
MICHAEL  REE&E 


1 V 


THE  REAL  MEXICO 


THE  REAL  MEXICO 

A  STUDY  ON  THE  SPOT 


BY 

H.   HAMILTON    FYFE 

AUTHOR  OF 

'THE  NEW  SPIRIT  IN  EGYPT,"  "SOUTH  AFRICA  TO-DAY' 


NEW  YORK 
McBRIDE,  NAST  &  COMPANY 


L 


Printed  in  England 


CO 

cj; 


To  the  journals  in  which  some  parts  of  this  work 
appeared  I  am  grateful  for  permission  to  include 
them  here. 


285739 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  fAGE 

I  A   CONVERSATION    AT   CHAPALA        .            .            I 

II  THE   CHIEF   OF   THE   REVOLUTION              .            7 

III  HOW   PROPERTY   SUFFERS  2O 

IV  ACROSS   THE    DESERT   IN  A  MULE-COACH         29 
V  BOMBARDED    IN    MONTERREY             .            .         43 

VI  AFTER   THE   ATTACK       ....         53 

VII  THE   PITY   OF   IT  !             .            .            .            -63 

VIII  WHAT   SALTILLO   TALKS    ABOUT        .            .         73 

IX  WHY   TRAINS   ARE   LATE           ...         85 

X      MEXICO   CITY 96 

XI  THE   NEMESIS   OF   PATERNALISM      .            .       IO8 

XII  GENERAL    HUERTA          «.            .            .            .       Il8 

XIII  PRESIDENT   WILSON'S    PRINCIPLE     .  .130 

XIV  WHERE   DON    PORFIRIO    FAILED        .            -139 
XV      OVER    THE   EDGE 148 

XVI  AN   OPERA   BOUFFE   ARMY       .            .            .158 

XVII  CHAPALA    AND    GUADALAJARA            .            .       l66 
rii 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PACK 

XVIII  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  CATHOLIC  PARTY       175 

XIX      EDUCATION 184 

XX  THE   OIL   RIVALRY   MYTH          .            .            .193 

XXI  THE    ISTHMUS    OF   TEHUANTEPEC    .            .       204 

xxn  "MEXICAN  RAILS"       .        .        .         .212 

XXIII  THE   CHARACTER   OF   THE   MEXICAN          .       22$ 

XXIV  THE    MEXICAN    AT   HOME          .            .            .       240 


A  CONVERSATION   AT  CHAPALA 

ON  the  terrace  of  a  garden  looking  over  Lake  Chapala 
a  group  of  people  were  talking  in  the  warm  glow  of 
a  late  November  afternoon.  Through  a  dip  in  the 
mountains  upon  the  opposite  shore  the  snowy  peak  of 
Colima's  volcano  glistened  against  the  blue.  Over  the 
shining  water  the  boats  of  Indian  villagers,  their  big 
sails  boomed  out  to  catch  light  airs,  trailed  lazily  home- 
ward. The  bushes  below  us  were  thick  with  roses. 
The  walls  of  the  villa  were  blotched  with  the  passionate 
purple  of  bougainvillia.  The  prospect,  the  quiet,  the 
sunny  golden  atmosphere,  should  have  tuned  our  minds 
to  thoughts  of  peace  and  beauty.  Instead  we  were 
talking  of  social  disorders,  the  wreck  and  ruin  of  civil 
war. 

"  I  hope,  when  you  get  Home/'  said  one  of  the  group, 
addressing  me,  "  that  you  will  tell  them  about  the  Real 
Mexico." 

"  I  hope,  for  your  own  sake,"  sneered  another,  "  that 
you  will  not.  No  one  would  believe  you." 

This  was  a  business  man  who  has  lived  in  Mexico 
City  for  fifteen  years. 

"  It's  quite  extraordinary/'  he  went  on,  "  how  little 
is  known  about  this  country.  The  last  time  I  was  in 
New  York  a  big  man  in  Wall  Street  admitted  to  me 
that,  until  the  revolution  broke  out,  he  had  always 
thought  of  Mexico  as  being  in  South  America.  The 

B  I 


2  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

other  day  in  England  a  rather  famous  man  of  science 
said  he  supposed  it  would  be  easy  to  put  the  rebellion 
down.  I  asked  him  why.  He  said,  '  It's  quite  a  small 
country,  isn't  it  ?  '  and  was  mildly  incredulous  when  I 
told  him  it  was  about  as  big  as  Europe." 

"  Well,"  chuckled  the  first  speaker,  "  it  isn't  only 
folks  a  long  way  off  who  are  ignorant  about  Mexico.  I 
fancy  I  have  heard  you,  and  I  have  certainly  heard  any 
number  of  others  who  live  here,  say  that,  if  old  President 
Diaz  could  come  back  and  restore  his  old  ruthless 
despotic  methods,  all  would  be  well." 

"  I've  said  so,  and  I  say  so  still,"  returned  the  other 
defiantly.  This  brought  a  third  speaker  into  the 
dispute. 

"  Rubbish  !  "  he  declared.  "  Utter  and  absolute 
rubbish  !  Can't  you  see  that  Mexico  is  in  the  throes 
of  a  land  crisis  ?  Exactly  the  same  thing  is  happening 
here  as  happens,  at  some  time  or  other,  in  every 
country.  The  land  is  first  owned  by  village  com- 
munities. They  are  jockeyed  out  of  it,  and  it  becomes 
the  property  of  a  few  individuals.  These  live  upon  the 
many,  who  now  cannot  make  a  living  unless  they  work 
for  a  master.  At  last  the  worms  turn.  They  have 
turned  here.  It  is  the  desire  of  the  people  for  land 
which  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  whole  trouble.  You  have 
lived  in  the  City.  I  live  in  the  country  and  I  know." 

"  You  know  about  your  own  State,"  said  the  coffee- 
planter  who  had  spoken  first.  "  There,  I  admit,  the 
land  question  is  acute.  But  you  must  not  imagine  it 
is  so  all  over  the  country.  Certainly  that  was  one  of 
the  causes  of  the  revolution  against  Don  Porfirio.  But 
there  was  another,  which  in  my  opinion  was  stronger 
and  wider-spread.  I  mean  the  creation  of  a  middle 
class.  Formerly  in  Mexico  there  were  the  high  people 


A  CONVERSATION  AT  CHAPALA  3 

and  the  low  people  :  those  who  lived  on  their  revenues 
and  did  the  head-work  of  the  country  and  ran  it  as  they 
pleased;  and  those  who  lived  by  the  sweat  of  their 
brows,  earning  contentedly  just  enough  to  keep  them- 
selves alive.  Now,  between  these  classes  there  exists 
one  composed  of  men  who  have  risen  from  the  low 
condition,  who  earn  good  wages  as  skilled  artisans, 
who  read  and  have  begun  to  think.  It  is  they  who  have 
made  the  old  Porfirian  system  impossible.  It  is  they 
who  inflame  the  low  people  against  the  high." 

"  Then  they  ought  to  be  punished  and  put  down," 
pleaded  a  pretty  woman  plaintively.  "  I  suppose  that 
is  what  happened  to  the  peons  on  our  plantation. 
They  were  all  right  until  they  suddenly  threatened  to 
kill  us  all  and  set  fire  to  the  house.  My  husband 
frightened  them  thoroughly  with  his  Mauser  pistol — 
I  think  he  killed  one  or  two.  But  of  course  I  couldn't 
stay  there.  I  had  to  go  to  the  City  and  I'm  dreadfully 
anxious  about  him." 

"  I  expect  he's  just  as  anxious  about  you,  my  dear," 
put  in  another  woman,  elderly,  grey-haired,  swaying 
herself  energetically  in  a  rocking-chair.  "  How  can 
any  one  be  safe  in  the  City  ?  The  house  I  lived  in  was 
shot  all  to  pieces  in  February.  My  niece  in  Monterrey 
had  her  dining-room  wrecked  by  a  shell  in  October. 
One  isn't  safe  anywhere." 

"  Yet  you  find  the  life  of  the  City  and  of  Monterrey, 
and  even  of  places  that  have  been  worse  treated,  going 
on  very  much  as  usual,"  the  coffee- planter  observed. 
"  Bands  play  on  the  Plazas,  people  dine  and  dance  as 
in  ordinary  times.  That  is  what  misleads  the  casual 
observer." 

"  The  truth  is,"  broke  out  the  man  from  the  City, 
who  had  been  awaiting  his  opportunity,  "that  the 


4  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

Mexicans  regard  civil  war,  not  as  a  calamity,  but  as 
a  natural  state  of  affairs.  You  have,  no  doubt,  had 
many  of  them  confide  in  you,"  he  continued,  turning  to 
me,  "  their  horror  at  this  '  war  between  brothers.' 
Don't  believe  them.  They  aren't  horrified  at  all. 
They  do  nothing  to  try  a^S  stop  it.  I  tell  you  this  is 
a  barbarous  nation,  and  the  only  way  to  keep  it  in  order 
is  to  use  an  iron  fist." 

It  was  an  interesting  conversation  and  it  lasted  a 
long  time.  I  heard  that  the  Indians -were  brave, 
industnou&^aad--iaithlul ;  Ilia  I  tiicy  woro  cowarcQy, 
"  hrmp-ifUaJl  flTu^Jknew  no  gratitude ;  that  they  were 

ki  Tl  f1  Ty-^n  r»  r  K11  /j-]Tv^r~'f  h  a  r  J  h  ay  nrprp.  dp  in  I  i  s1\jj  their 

lust  and  cruelty.  I  heard  from  some  that  the  Spaniards 
were  "  tne  worst  grafters  of  the  lot  " ;  from  others,  that 
their  honour  could  always  be  trusted.  I  was  told  that 
Porfirio  Diaz  was  a  heaven-born  statesman,  a  short- 
sighted military  despot,  a  brutal  oppressor.  One 
assured  me  that  if  Madero  "  had  been  given  a  chance," 
he  would  have  brought  Mexico  into  line  with  "  other 
great  countries."  The  rest  united  in  denouncing  him 
as  a  crazy,  incompetent  dreamer.  "  He  was  known  as 
loco  Franco  (mad  Frank)  when  he  was  young.  He 
never  grew  out  of  it."  I  was  told  that  General  Huerta 
could  have  crushed  the  revolutionists  "  long  ago  "  if 
the  United  States  had  recognized  him,  and  immediately 
afterwards  by  the  same  people  that  his  army  was  a 
joke  and  his  generals  a  public  scandal.  "  They  will 
not  end  the  war  in  a  hundred  years." 

Dainty  women  talked  unconcernedly  about  peons 
hung  on  telegraph  poles  and  the  '^-funny  way  "  in  which 
soldiers  spun  round  when  they  were  shot.  Genial 
Britons  and  Americans  spoke  of  the  execution  of 
prisoners  as  a  regular  practice  and  approved  it,  because 


A  CONVERSATION  AT  CHAPALA  5 

"  if  the  Mexicans  would  only  exterminate  one  another, 
the  country  would  have  a  chance."  I  had  impressed 
upon  me  by  a  dozen  tongues  the  contrast  between  the 
high-sounding  Constitution  and  the  actual  conditions 
of  government;  between  the  pretensions  of  Mexico 
to  rank  among  civilized  nations  and  the  barbarities 
she  practised ;  between  the  flimsy  veneer  of  modernity 
which  imposed  upon  the  world  "  while  Porfirio  was 
consul  "  and  the  undeveloped,  ill-regulated  old  Adam 
beneath. 

I  came  away  with  my  mind  awhirl.  Was  there  any 
rational  explanation  of  Mexico's  troubles,  or  were  they 
all  due  to  an  extra  inheritance  of  original  sin  ?  Must 
I  regard  Carranza,  the  Chief  of  the  Revolution,  as  a 
strong-souled  patriot,  fighting  for  liberty  and  progress, 
or  as  a  narrow-minded  egoist,  swayed  by  ambition  and 
greed?  Were  the  Mexicans  ripe  for  self-government 
on  Anglo-Saxon  lines,  or  did  they  still  need  an  autocrat 
to  hold  them  down?  Were  they,  in  truth,  a  nation 
at  all,  or  merely  a  group  of  racial  elements^not  yet 
fused  into  a  coherent  whole  ? 

The  Real  Mexico  !  After  such  a  conversation  it 
seemed  impossible  of  discovery,  and  for  a  while  after- 
wards every  talk  I  had — whether  with  governing 
Spaniards,  or  with  peons  in  the  fields,  or  with  officers 
in  troop-trains,  or  with  foreigners  in  their  pleasant 
houses,  their  hospitable  clubs — left  me  more  puzzled, 
more  in  doubt.  Yet  all  the  time  an  image  was  gradu- 
ally forming.  Out  of  mists  and  shadows  something 
real  and  solid  began  to  come  forth. 

To  pretend  that  I  can  give  an  exactly  accurate 
account  of  Mexico  and  her  problems  would  be  foolish 
presumption.  Those  who  know  the  country  well  may 
find  in  my  rapid  survey  many  shortcomings,  much  to 


6  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

disagree  with ;  it  is  likely,  some  mistakes  of  fact.  All 
I  can  claim  is  that  I  have  tried  to  do  what  my  kind 
friend  at  Chapala  suggested,  that  is,  to  tell  about  the 
Real  Mexico,  as  opposed  to  the  Mexico  of  those  who 
during  the  reign  of  President  Diaz  found  everything 
perfect,  and  to  the  Mexico  of  writers  who,  going  to  the 
opposite  extreme,  would  make  the  world's  flesh  creep 
by  relating  stories  of  revolting  savagery.  I  think  that, 
at  this  moment  especially,  such  an  attempt  to  describe 
the  Real  Mexico  may  be  useful.  It  may  help  towards 
a  better  understanding  of  what  has  happened  and  what 
is  happening  there.  Possibly  it  will  suggest  a  forecast 
of  what  the  future  may  bring. 


II 

THE  CHIEF  OF  THE  REVOLUTION 

I  MET  a  man  shortly  before  I  left  England  who 
assured  me  that  the  troubles  of  Mexico  were  wildly 
exaggerated.  He  had  just  returned  from  a  visit  to 
Mexico  City.  He  took  boat  from  New  York  to  Vera 
Cruz,  and  train  from  Vera  Cruz  to  the  capital.  He 
saw  no  rebels  nor  any  sign  of  their  work — no  bodies 
hanging  from  trees  and  telegraph  poles,  no  ruins  of 
dynamited  trains,  no  broken  bridges.  He  found  the 
service  of  the  Mexican  Railway  punctual  and  regular. 
He  received  official  assurances  that  the  rebellion  was 
practically  (much  virtue  in  your  "  practically  ")  over. 
Business  men  joined  with  officials  in  making  light  of 
the  disturbances,  which  were  "  caused  by  small  bands  of 
brigands  who  were  rapidly  being  exterminated."  HQ 
left  by  way  of  Vera  Cruz  again,  and  he  honestly 
believed  that  the  stories  of  continual  fighting  in  the 
north  were  "  a  pack  of  lies." 

Had  I  gone  direct  to  Mexico  City  by  the  same  route 
I  should  no  doubt  have  taken  the  same  view.  ..It 
seemed  to  me  to  be  wiser  to  go  first  to  the  districts 
which  were  said  to  be  disturbed.  From  Washington, 
after  seeing  President  Wilson  and  other  men  of  autho- 
rity, I  took  train  to  El  Paso  in  Texas,  a  journey  of 
some  four  days.  From  El  Paso  I  went  on  to  Nogales 
(Arizona),  another  frontier  town,  and  as  trains  were 
running  three  times  a  week  to  Hermosillo,  the  capital 

7 


8  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

of  the  Revolutionists,  I  decided  to  go  there  first  and 
hear  what  General  Carranza,  the  Chief  of  the  Insur- 
gents, had  to  say  in  explanation  of  his  methods  and  his 
aims. 

From  Hermosillo  I  hoped  to  pass  through  the  lines 
of  both  armies  and  reach  Guaymas  (Wymas),  a  port 
on  the  Pacific,  which  for  months  past  has  been  invested 
by  the  Insurrectos.  However,  that  suggestion  was 
not  well  received.  I  felt  sure  I  could  ride  through 
without  any  risk,  but  I  was  told  it  would  not  be  safe. 
Clearly  the  Carranzistas  did  not  wish  it,  so  I  was  obliged 
to  return  by  the  way  I  had  come.  I  went  back  along 
the  frontier  to  San  Antonio,  and  started  thence  for 
Monterrey.  As  will  appear  later,  it  took  me  a  long  time 
to  get  there  ! 

Already  then  I  had  travelled  to  and  fro  along  some 
1,200  miles  of  frontier  between  Mexico  and  the  United 
States.  I  had  been  across  that  frontier  at  several 
points.  I  had  visited  all  the  United  States  military 
posts  along  the  border  and  seen  something  of  their 
excellent  training  and  hard  condition.  I  had  talked 
with  scores  of  men  who  have  lived  in  Mexico  through  the 
past  three  years  of  revolution.  The  result  had  been 
to  show  me  that  the  troubles  of  this  distracted  country 
had  certainly  not  been  exaggerated  in  Great  Britain 
or  in  Europe.  Indeed,  I  learnt  so  much  which  was 
entirely  new  to  me  that  I  was  forced  to  the  admission 
that,  outside  Mexico,  very  few  people  knew  what  was 
happening  at  all. 

El  Paso,  a  clean,  bustling  little  city  hemmed  about 
with  mountains,  is  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  the 
information  about  Mexico  which  is  supplied  to 
readers  of  newspapers  in  the  United  States,  and  which 
is  copied  from  these  into  other  newspapers  all  over  the 


THE   CHIEF  OF  THE  REVOLUTION        9 

world.  I  am  bound  to  say  it  is  information  in  which 
little  confidence  can  be  placed.  An  "  el  paso-gram  " 
has  come  to  be  used  as  a  synonym  for  a  sensational, 
scare-headed  exaggeration.  This  is  due  partly  to  the 
natural  talent  of  the  Texan  journalist  for  brilliantly 
imaginative  fiction,  partly  to  the  sympathy  which  is 
felt  in  Texas  for  the  rebels.  In  Texas  there  are 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  Mexicans.  El  Paso  is  almost 
a  Mexican  city.  In  many  small  towns  and  villages 
Spanish  is  the  language  more  in  use  than  English. 
These  American  Mexicans  are  almost  all  on  the  side  of 
the  revolution,  and  have  been  for  years  past  persuaded 
by  clever  revolutionary  agents  to  supply  money  for 
the  purchase  of  arms  and  ammunition. 

Many  Texans  hold  with  them  that  el  pueblo  (the 
People  with  a  capital  P)  have  been  downtrodden  and 
oppressed  in  Mexico  and  that  their  turn  has  now  come. 
Many  other  Texans  are  eager  to  foment  trouble  in 
Mexico,  because  they  hope  to  see  the  northern  States 
annexed  by  the  United  States.  The  land  in  these  is 
of  much  the  same  character  as  the  land  in  Texas,  which, 
until  1835,  formed  part  of  Mexico.  Since  its  annexa- 
tion by  the  United  States  in  1845,  after  a  short  existence 
as  an  independent  republic,  the  face  of  Texas  has  been 
changed.  Irrigation  and  industry  have  turned  what 
was  desert  into  fertile  country.  Many  cities  bear 
witness  to  the  prosperity  of  the  State.  As  one  sees 
what  has  been  done  in  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Grande, 
or  in  the  district  between  San  Antonio  and  Laredo,  and 
as  one  contrasts  this  rapid  development  with  the 
stagnation  across  the  border,  one  cannot  be  surprised 
at  the  impatience  of  Texans  to  go  over  and  possess 
the  land.  One  may  doubt,  however,  whether 
the  Texas  Rangers,  fine  force  though  they  be,  could 


10  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

conquer  it  all  by  themselves,   as  Texans  frequently 
claim  ! 

It  is.  curious  in  El  Paso  to  see  street-cars  marked 
"  Mexico."  These  run  across  the  International  Bridge 
to  the  Mexican  town  of  Juarez,  where  there  has  been 
frequent  fighting.  The  battles  are  treated  by  the 
Texans  as  spectacles.  The  American  bank  of  the 
Rio  Grande  is  black  with  sight-seers.  Excursions  are 
run  and  points  of  vantage  leased  at  high  rates.  In 
Washington  I  had  been  solemnly  warned  about  the 
dangers  of  a  journey  into  troubled  Mexico.  Here  such 
fears  were  smiled  at.  All  the  same  I  had  not  neglected 
precautions.  I  had  obtained  in  Washington,  from  a 
pleasant  Mexican  gentleman  officially  connected  with 
the  rebels,  a  safe  conduct,  which  asked  all  officers  of 
the  Constitutionalist  forces  to  pass  me  safely  along. 
Now  in  El  Paso  I  was  given  letters  to  General  Carranza 
and  his  secretary  by  another  "  agent  "  of  his  party, 
who  openly  has  an  office  there  in  spite  of  the  United 
States  neutrality  laws.  I  noticed  in  this  office  a  very 
old  man,  clearly  of  refinement,  acting  as  typist.  He 
must  have  been  seventy,  and  as  I  watched  his  stiff 
fingers  hitting  the  keys,  I  wondered  how  he  had  come 
to  such  employment.  I  was  still  more  astonished  to 
learn  that  under  the  previous  Government  of  Mexico 
he  had  been  a  judge  in  that  country  !  I  could  multiply 
such  cases  indefinitely.  I  met  on  the  United  States 
side  of  the  border  numbers  of  Americans  who  have  been 
forced  to  leave  their  Mexican  businesses  or  properties 
on  account  of  the  disturbed  state  of  the  northern 
districts.  I  came  across  an  oldish  American,  who  had 
been  very  well  off  in  Mexico,  acting  as  night  clerk  at  a 
small  hotel  in  Arizona.  A  Mexican  ••*'  hacendado," 
proprietor  of  a  "  hacienda  "  (estate)  in  Sonora,  had  an 


THE     CHIEF  OF  THE  REVOLUTION     11 

unusually  fine  crop  in  1913  after  several  poor  ones. 
The  revolutionists  seized  the  whole  of  it  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  a  supporter  of  the  "  illegal  Government." 
He  is  living  in  poverty  at  Los  Angeles,  a  ruined  man, 
until  his  side  is  "  top  dog  "  again.  Then  he  may  be 
rich  once  more. 

The  State  of  Sonora  I  found  quiet.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  the  port  of  Guaymas,  the  whole  of  it  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  Insurrectos.  Next  to  Chihuahua  (pro- 
nounce Cheewahwah)  it  ranks  as  the  largest  in  the 
Republic  of  Mexico  :  its  area  is  rather  greater  than 
that  of  England;  it  is  rich  in  minerals,  especially 
copper ;  and  wherever  there  is  water  its  soil  brings  forth 
every  kind  of  produce. 

In  the  north  of  the  State  there  are  many  vast  cattle 
ranches,  some  of  them  belonging  to  English  and 
American  rancher os.  These  have  suffered  little  from 
the  revolutions,  though  an  Englishman  in  Chihuahua 
who  brought  some  cattle  up  to  the  United  States  had 
to  pay  in  successive  "  contributions  "  $7^  (about  155.) 
a  head  before  he  got  them  across  the  line.  In  Sonora 
there  have  been  some  '"  levies  "  of  this  kind,  but  I 
heard  no  serious  complaints  from  English  or  American 
cattle-men.  Mexican  rancheros  have  been  less  for- 
tunate. Many  of  them  have  fled  into  the  United  States 
lest  a  worse  thing  should  happen  unto  them.  Both 
upon  them  and  upon  mine-owners  frequent  demands 
have  been  made  for  the  support  of  the  rebel  cause. 
Most  of  the  mines  are  idle,  and  have  been  so  for  months 
past.  Some  had  their  stores  raided  and  found  it  too 
difficult  to  get  fresh  supplies.  Others  ran  short  of 
labour.  In  the  south  the  farmers  have  suffered  heavy 
loss.  In  the  Yaqui  Valley  many  of  them  saw  their 
crops  rot.  In  the  Mayo  Valley,  where  a  peculiar  kind 


12  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

of  pea  called  the  guerbanza  is  cultivated,  chiefly  for 
export  to  Spain,  the  interruption  of  the  railway  service 
hit  the  growers  very  hard. 

Nor  is  it  only  of  the  Mexicans  that  the  American 
farmers  in  this  valley  complain.  They  are  even  more 
angry  with  the  United  States  Government.  Just  after 
President  Wilson's  message  had  suggested  to  American 
subjects  in  Mexico  that  they  should  "  clear  out,"  an 
American  consul,  accompanied  by  an  American  naval 
officer  from  the  Yorktown,  then  at  Guaymas,  went 
round  to  about  125  of  these  farmers  warning  them  that 
they  had  better  leave  immediately.  The  message  was 
at  once  so  urgent  and  so  mysterious  that  they  imagined 
the  United  States  to  be  on  the  point  of  declaring  war. 
They  nearly  all  abandoned  their  property  and  made 
haste  into  California.  Some  of  them  have  since  re- 
turned ;  others  are  without  the  means  to  do  so.  They 
express  their  opinion  of  Mr.  Bryan,  who  refuses  to  pay 
their  fares  back,  in  the  most  lurid  terms. 

Beneath  the  surface  there  is  in  Sonora,  among  all 
who  have  anything  to  lose,  resentment  either  against 
the  Constitutionalists  or  against  the  Government  of 
General  Huerta,  or  against  both,  and  a  longing  for  a 
settlement  which  will  bring  peace.  Yet  the  outward 
appearance  of  the  State  is  normal.  The  State  authori- 
ties and  officials  work  as  usual.  Good  order  is  kept. 
State  paper  money  and  State  postage  stamps  have  been 
issued.  Mails  from  other  parts  of  the  country  and 
from  abroad  are  irregular,  but  they  mostly  arrive. 
Customs  duties  and  taxes  are  collected  in  the  ordinary 
way. 

The  life  of  Hermosillo  goes  on  quietly.  The  Plaza 
is  filled  on  Sunday  evenings  with  promenaders  enjoying 
the  balmy  night  air  and  the  music  of  a  good  band,  In 


THE   CHIEF   OF  THE   REVOLUTION      13 

the  market,  splashed  with  the  vivid  green  and  scarlet 
of  "  chiles  "  dear  to  the  Mexican  palate  the  old  women 
chaffer  over  peaches  and  pomegranates,  quinces  and 
melons,  green  oranges  of  delicious  juiciness,  which  are 
grown  all  round  the  town.  They  are  especially  grateful 
in  so  thirsty  a  climate.  All  the  sun-baked  streets  are 
thick  in  dust,  against  which  the  low  grey  houses 
shutter  themselves  all  day,  to  open  up  when  the  cool 
of  evening  comes  and  the  palm-trees  stand  out  black 
and  sharp  against  a  crimson  sky  of  unimaginable 
ecstasy.  The  deep-toned  bells  of  the  cathedral  tell 
out  the  hours  which  pass  in  such  deliciously  deliberate 
fashion,  slow-footed  like  the  pace  at  which  every  one 
moves,  yet  never  wearisome,  for  is  there  not  always  in 
a  hot  country  the  spectacle  of  life  to  entertain  one? 
Some  delightful  young  Mexican  misses,  all  in  white 
frocks  and  dainty  ribbons,  are  having  a  party  almost  in 
the  street,  so  wide  are  the  windows  open  and  so  jutting 
the  balconies  to  the  rooms.  Picturesquely  ragged 
small  boys  and  weary  peons  are  buying  red  and  green 
drinks  from  the  stall  yonder.  See  this  fine  old  fellow 
coming  along,  erect  and  soldierly.  He  is  a  captain  of 
sixty-nine  years.  On  the  active  list  ?  Yes,  indeed,  and 
eager  for  battle.  He  was  a  carpenter  and  painter  before 
the  revolution.  Now  he  and  his  five  sons  are  all  in  the 
rebel  army  and  his  six  daughters  in  the  "  Red  Cross." 

There  seems  to  be  enthusiasm  among  all  classes  for 
the  Constitutionalist  cause.  It  is  not  until  one  talks 
alone  and  in  confidence  with  those  who  form  the  more 
substantial  element  in  the  population  that  one  under- 
stands how  thankful  they  would  be  for  any  kind  of 
Government  in  Mexico  which  could  keep  the  peace  and 
which  would  really  govern.  When  one  tries,  however, 
to  discover  whether  any  such  Government  is  possible 


14  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

one  trips  against  several  stumbling-blocks.  Not  only 
is  it  very  hard,  on  account  of  interrupted  communica- 
tions, to  discover  the  truth  for  oneself — to  decide,  for 
example,  how  many  of  the  "  victories  "  and  "  cap- 
tures "  announced  every  few  days  by  each  side  have 
really  happened.  It  is  even  harder  to  form  any  con- 
clusions upon  the  statements  of  others.  To  begin  with, 
every  one  is  violently  prejudiced  in  favour  of  one  side 
or  the  other.  In  addition  to  that,  almost  every  one 
bolsters  up  his  view  with  statements  which  are,  on  the 
face  of  them,  exaggerated  and,  from  a  practical  com- 
mon-sense standpoint,  usually  grotesque.  Take  one 
example.  All  who  believe  that  General  Huerta  is  the 
strong  man  of  the  situation  and  the  man  most  likely  to 
give  Mexico  the  firm  yet  kindly  Government  she  needs, 
describe  General  Carranza,  in  common  with  all  the 
insurgent  leaders,  as  a  "  brigand."  I  have  been 
assured  over  and  over  again  that  he  had  no  regular 
organized  forces,  only  bands  of  outlaws,  living,  as  he 
himself  lived,  by  plunder,  and  spreading  ruin  wherever 
they  went.  As  soon  as  I  talked  with  General  Carranza 
its  full  absurdity  was  plain. 

A  Spaniard  of  pure  descent,  he  is  a  man  of  striking 
personal  dignity.  If  he  had  happened  to  become 
Provisional  President,  every  one  would  have  said  how 
well  he  graced  the  position.  It  is  true  that  many  of 
the  bands  which  call  themselves  "  Carranzistas " 
practise  the  methods  of  bandits,  extorting  money, 
driving  off  cattle,  stealing  horses,  looting  houses  and 
shops.  Although  Carranza  may  disapprove,  he  must 
recognize  that  these  are  the  usual  methods  of  civil 
warfare.  Qui  veut  la  fin  veut  les  moyens.  The  General 
has  no  choice.  If  his  troops  did  not  steal,  they  would 
starve. 


THE  CHIEF  OF  THE  REVOLUTION   15 

That  Carranza  is  ambitious  I  do  not  doubt.  He 
would  probably  have  revolted  against  Madero,  if 
Madero  had  not  been  deposed.  Those  who  knew  and 
watched  him  said  that  he  thought  his  moment  had 
come  when  the  little  President  lost  his  popularity. 
Felix  Diaz  and  General  Reyes  anticipated  him,  but  the 
inopportune  murder  of  Madero  by  "  Felixistas  "  gave 
him  a  better  pretext  than  he  could  have  offered, 
had  Madero  lived.  He  seized  it  without  hesitation. 
Clearly  he  is  a  man  of  resolution  and  enterprise.  But 
he  does  not  look  it. 

Like  Madero  (whose  own  words  I  quote  from  his 
famous  pamphlet  against  President  Diaz)  Venustiano 
Carranza  lived  until  a  few  years  ago  "  tranquilly  occu- 
pied, in  common  with  the  immense  majority  of  Mexi- 
cans, with  private  business  and  the  thousand  futilities 
of  social  life."  He  belongs  to  the  land-owning  class 
in  the  State  of  Coahuila,  where  he  was  Governor  and 
where  he  had  spent  most  of  his  life.  He  is  a  great 
reader;  his  serious  studious  face,  with  deep,  vertical 
lines  between  the  brows,  betrays  "  the  pale  cast  of 
thought."  His  eyes  gleam  patiently  and  kindly 
through  spectacles.  His  hair  is  dark  still,  but  mouth 
and  chin  are  hidden  by  a  heavy  grey  moustache  and 
beard,  though  the  cheeks  are  shaved.  His  voice  is 
gentle  and  his  movements  are  deliberate.  He  sits 
perfectly  still  listening  to  questions,  and  answers  them 
without  hesitation,  in  an  even  tone,  his  hands  loosely 
clasped,  his  eyes  searching  his  interrogator's  face  to  see 
if  his  meaning  is  made  clear. 

It  is  hard  to  understand  how  a  man  of  this  pro- 
fessorial student  type  can  have  gained  such  an  ascend- 
ency over  the  Revolutionists.  When  I  saw  him  he 
was  suffering  a  little  from  the  effects  of  bad  water  and 


16  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

short  rations  of  food  during  his  three  months'  journey 
on  horseback  from  Piedras  Negras,  in  Coahuila  (which 
was  formerly  the  insurgent  capital),  to  Hermosillo. 
But  he  can  scarcely  be  a  man  of  overflowing  physical 
vitality  at  any  time.  It  must  be  by  force  of  character 
and  intellect  that  he  has  reached  his  present  dangerously 
high  position. 

"  I  am  the  only  leader  recognized  as  supreme  by  all 
the  chiefs  of  the  revolution,"  he  told  me  in  his  quiet, 
measured  speech,  not  with  pride,  but  as  one  upon  whom 
a  heavy  responsibility  lay.  "  What  we  fight  for  is  the 
Constitution  of  our  country  and  the  development  of 
our  people.  Huerta  outraged  the  Constitution  when 
he  overthrew  and  murdered  President  Madero.  He 
continues  to  outrage  it  by  attempting  to  govern 
despotically  as  Diaz  did,  and  refusing  to  administer 
fairly  the  laws,  which  are  equal  for  all.  This  revolution 
cannot  cease  until  either  we,  the  Constitutionalists, 
triumph,  or  until  Huerta  triumphs  completely  over  us. 
Even  in  the  latter  case  it  would  only  cease  for  the 
moment.  It  has  its  roots  in  social  causes.  The  land, 
which  was  formerly  divided  among  the  mass  of  the 
people,  has  been  seized  by  a  few.  The  owners  of  it 
compel  those  who  are  working  for  them  to  buy  the 
necessities  of  life  from  them  alone.  They  lay  a  burden 
of  debt  upon  the  poor  people  and  make  them  virtually 
slaves,  for  as  long  as  the  poor  people  owe  them  money 
they  cannot  go  away.  If  they  try  to  go  away,  they  can 
be  brought  back.  They  can  be  put  in  prison.  Another 
cause  of  the  revolution  is  the  growth  of  a  middle  class. 
Formerly  there  were  only  the  rich  and  the  poor.  Now 
there  is  a  class  in  between  which  does  not  like  to  see 
the  poor  oppressed ;  which  knows  what  democracy  and 
social  reforms  mean  in  other  countries,  and  which  is 


THE   CHIEF   OF  THE   REVOLUTION      17 

resolved  to  take  successive  steps  forward  in  the  direction 
of  complete  self-government." 

"  Have  you  any  definite  plans  for  land  reform  and 
other  reforms  ?  "  I  inquired. 

He  thought  a  moment.  Then  he  replied  :  "  The 
first  necessity  is  the  fair  and  free  election  of  a  President. 
The  election  which  is  proposed  now  will  be  a  farce.  In 
the  disturbed  state  of  our  country  it  is  impossible  to 
hold  a  proper  election.  Large  numbers  of  voters  will 
not  know  anything  about  it.  We  Constitutionalists 
refuse  to  recognize  any  President  who  may  be  returned 
at  the  fraudulent  election.  We  shall  execute  anybody 
who  does  recognize  him." 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  I  said.  "  Would  you  kindly 
repeat  your  last  statement?  " 

I  thought  I  must  have  misunderstood  it. 

"  We  shall,"  the  General  said  calmly  and  as  if  he 
were  making  a  perfectly  natural  remark,  "  execute  any 
one  who  recognizes  a  President  unconstitutionally 
elected  and  directly  or  indirectly  guilty  of  participation 
in  the  murder  of  Madero." 

Some  two  months  after  my  visit,  General  Carranza 
was  interviewed  by  a  Major  Archer-Shee,  a  British 
Member  of  Parliament,  and  being  told  that  this  remark 
of  his  had  had  a  bad  effect,  he  denied  having  made  it. 
I  bear  him  no  malice  for  this.  I  expected  that  he  would 
deny  it,  if  ever  he  were  told  how  strangely  it  sounded 
in  English  and  American  ears.  When  he  made  it,  he 
did  not  understand  this.  It  seemed  to  him,  no  doubt, 
a  commonplace  of  civil  warfare  as  conducted  in 
Mexico.  My  asking  him  to  repeat  it,  and  the  inquiry 
of  his  nephew,  Captain  Gustavo  Salinas,  who  speaks 
English  perfectly,  thanks  to  being  educated  in  the 
United  States,  whether  I  had  understood  it  aright, 
c 


18  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

might  have  warned  him,  but  he  did  not  offer  to  tone  it 
down  in  the  least. 

To  hear  this  amiable,  scholarly  old  gentleman  define 
so  bloodthirsty  and  to  us  so  utterly  unreasonable  a 
line  of  action  made  me  feel  as  if  I  were  dreaming.  It 
threw  a  strange  light  upon  his  profession  of  belief  in 
democracy.  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  sincerely  imagines 
himself  a  believer  in  that  creed.  I  am  sure  that  the 
best  of  his  followers  are  equally  sincere,  though  many 
fight  simply  because  they  prefer  disorder  and  make  a 
profit  out  of  looting.  The  very  fact  that  the  party 
calls  itself  the  "  Constitutionalist  as  "  and  not  the 
"Carranzistas,"  proves  that  it  follows  a  principle  rather 
than  a  man.  But  the  discrepancy  between  their  pro- 
fessions and  their  avowed  policy  shows  how  far  the 
mentality  of  Mexico  is  distant  from  that  of  Europe  and 
the  United  States,  and  how  impossible  it  is  to  apply  to 
it,  as  President  Wilson  persists  in  doing,  the  same  tests 
and  the  same  standards  which  obtain  in  countries  where 
the  idea  of  self-government  is  a  plant  of  mature 
growth. 

It  is  the  custom  of  the  Constitutionalists  and  Federals 
alike  to  execute  all  the  general  and  field  officers  who 
are  captured ;  sometimes  other  officers,  and  even  men. 
They  justify  this  by  reference  to  a  law  of  1862  against 
fomenting  treason.  Each  side  calls  the  other  side 
"  traitors,"  and  the  only  course  to  take  with  a  "  traitor" 
— that  is,  a  man  who  differs  from  your  views — is  to 
shoot  him.  Several  Mexicans  have  quite  seriously  told 
me  that  Madero  failed  simply  because  he  tried  to  make 
terms  with  those  who  fought  and  plotted  against  him, 
instead  of  killing  them.  They  are  mistaken.  Madero 
failed  chiefly  because  he  was  a  bundle  of  nerves  and 
what  Americans  call  a  "  crank,"  and  because  he 


THE   CHIEF   OF  THE  REVOLUTION      19 

promised  what  he  could  not  possibly  perform.  He 
made  the  poor  peons  think  they  would  immediately  be 
given  the  equivalent  of  the  English  peasant's  "  three 
acres  and  a  cow,"  and  they  turned  against  him  when 
they  awakened  from  the  dream.  But  the  blame  cast 
upon  him  for  not  "  removing  his  enemies  "  is  a  sign- 
post towards  understanding  the  Mexican  mind. 

I  thought  of  these  sayings  as  I  sat  in  the  Palacio  de 
Gobierno  listening  to  flowery  speeches,  such  as  all 
Mexicans  can  make,  about  the  beauty  and  justice  of 
popular  rule,  at  a  meeting  upon  regular  European  or 
American  lines  held  in  honour  of  General  Carranza.  I 
thought  of  them  as  I  watched  a  working  men's  pro- 
cession march  through  the  streets  of  Hermosillo  bearing 
banners  on  which  were  inscribed  "  Club  Liberal," 
"  Club  Democratico  de  Obreros  y  Artesanos  "  (labourers 
and  artisans),  and  so  on.  And  I  am  bound  to  admit 
that  the  meeting  and  the  procession  impressed  me  not 
very  greatly,  now  that  I  knew  what,  to  the  Mexican 
Constitutionalist,  Liberalism  and  Democracy  mean. 


Ill 

HOW   PROPERTY   SUFFERS 

MY  hope  of  penetrating  to  the  heart  of  Mexico  by 
way  of  Guaymas  being  gone,  I  had  to  seek  some  other 
entrance.  In  ordinary  times  I  should  have  had  the 
choice  between  three.  Four  lines  run  from  the  United 
States  frontier  southwards.  On  the  (i)  Southern 
Pacific  of  Mexico  I  had  already  travelled  to  Hermosillo, 
but  could  get  no  further.  The  (2)  Mexico  North- 
Western,  which  starts  at  Juarez  and  runs  to  the  city  of 
Chihuahua,  was  blocked  by  burnt  bridges  and  torn-up 
rails.  Across  the  line  of  the  (3)  Mexican  National  Rail- 
roads, which  begins  at  Eagle  Pass,  I  found  a  battle  in 
progress,  the  battle  which  won  back  Piedras  Negras 
for  the  Federals  and  general  rank,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
three,  for  the  victor,  Colonel  Maas.  I  went  on,  there- 
fore, to  (4)  Laredo,  whence  the  main  line  of  the  "  Na- 
tional "  runs  direct  to  Mexico  City  through  Monterrey. 
This  had  been  closed  for  four  months,  but  in  the 
autumn  was  re-opened,  and  at  the  beginning  of  October 
was  said  to  be  free  from  rebels.  Thither  accordingly  I 
turned  my  face. 

The  south-western  United  States  through  which  I 
travelled,  Arizona,  New  Mexico,  Texas,  are  monotonous 
to  the  traveller's  eye.  For  hundreds  of  miles  nothing 
but  sand  and  scrub,  with  low  hills  in  the  distance  on 
either  side.  Wherever  there  is  water  there  are  rich 
crops,  but  water  is  scarce.  One  night,  after  a  gorgeous 

20 


HOW  PROPERTY   SUFFERS  21 

sunset  which  turned  the  brown  hills  first  rose,  then 
crimson,  then  a  blue  purple  like  the  bloom  on  a  dark 
plum,  we  had  a  moon  riding  in  the  southern  sky,  while 
to  westward  there  were  banks  of  heavy  cloud  ripped  by 
zigzag  lightning,  and  presently  torrents  of  rain.  "  Time 
it  came,"  said  some  one  in  the  observation-car  laconi- 
cally. "  Haven't  had  any  for  a  year." 

The  towns  are  what  one  would  expect — dusty  and 
hot  and  dry.  The  smaller  ones  are  of  a  dreariness  and 
squalor  hardly  imaginable  by  those  who  only  know  the 
towns  and  villages  of  Europe.  You  wonder  how  people 
of  active  mind  and  refined  manners  can  bear  to  live  in 
such  places,  until  you  discover  what  delightful  homes 
they  have — big,  airy  rooms,  furnished  with  taste, 
provided  with  every  convenience,  full  of  books ;  wide, 
cool  "  porches,"  or,  as  we  say,  verandahs;  balconies  to 
sleep  out  on ;  every  kind  of  bath. 

In  the  "  cities  "  there  is  more  life  and  movement 
than  there  would  be  in  a  European  town  of  similar  size. 
El  Paso  has  grown  up  since  the  railway  came;  out- 
wardly it  is,  therefore,  uninteresting;  the  usual  huge 
office  blocks  and  banks  and  stores,  and  big,  pretentious 
hotels,  seldom  more  than  one-third  full.  San  Antonio 
is  pleasanter ;  it  has  roots  in  the  past.  In  the  middle 
of  the  town  is  one  of  those  old  grey  missions  which 
Spanish  Franciscan  friars  built  all  over  this  country 
in  the  early  eighteenth  century.  There  are  others 
among  the  cotton  fields  a  few  miles  out  of  the  town. 
Their  architecture  is  not  thrilling,  but  their  crumbling 
towers  and  broken  cloisters  refresh  one  after  the  barrack- 
like  banality  of  American  city  streets. 

It  was  pleasant  after  a  very  hot  and  very  dusty 
twenty-four  hour  run,  to  find  in  San  Antonio  a  hotel     T 
(the  Menger)  with  a  cool,  lovable  charm  of  its  own.     It 


22  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

is  built  on  the  Spanish  plan,  round  garden  courtyards. 
In  one  of  these,  after  a  bath  and  a  change,  I  sat  on  a 
sultry  October  night  at  dinner  in  the  open  air,  listening 
to  a  Texan  view  of  the  Mexican  muddle.  Along  the 
border  I  had  begun  to  understand  how  much  loss  and 
suffering  have  been  caused  to  subjects  of  the  United 
States.  The  fact  that  some  60,000  Mexicans  have  been 
killed  concerns  Mexico  alone. ~~"3o  long  as  the  peons  can 
count  upon  four  shillings  a  day  for  being  soldiers 
instead  of  one  shilling  a  day,  or  less,  for  being  labourers 
(with  frequent  opportunities  of  loot  thrown  in),  they 
will  fight  willingly  for  either  side  and  run  the  risk  of 
getting  killed.  If  they  lived  on  a  barren  island  all  by 
themselves  they  might  go  on  fighting  until  they  were 
all  exterminated  and  no  one  would  greatly  care.  But 
when  one  learns  that  two  hundred  Americans  have  been 
killed,  not  to  mention  the  enormous  losses  suffered,  one 
is  driven  to  ask  with  Mr.  Roosevelt  whether  it  is  not  the 
duty  of  a  Government  to  protect  its  subjects  ? 

In  New  York,  in  the  Eastern  States  generally,  in  the 
Middle  West,  they  know  next  to  nothing  about  events 
in  Mexico.  The  channels  through  which  news  flows 
are  untrustworthy,  not  so  much  because  of  the  Yellow 
tendency  to  exaggerate,  which  causes  newspapers  in 
the  United  States  to  be  read  with  cynical  scepticism, 
as  on  account  of  two  forces  that  are  operating  against 
any  full  unprejudiced  statement  of  the  truth.  These 
forces  are — 

1.  The  disposition  of  the  Mexican  Government  (and 
of  the  Constitutionalists  also)  to  expel  any  newspaper 
correspondent  who  sends  news  which  they  would  prefer 
to  suppress. 

2.  The  widespread  sympathy  with  the  rebels   (in 
some  cases  paid  for  by  them)   which  animates  the 


HOW   PROPERTY   SUFFERS  23 

American  Press,  and  causes  it  to  ignore  aspects  of  the 
rebel  campaign  which  might  tell  against  it  in  the 
American  mind. 

All  founts  of  information  must  therefore  be  dis- 
trusted. What  is  called  "  news  "  is  frequently  supplied 
by  Constitutionalist  agents,  and  is  of  no  more  value 
than  official  statements  from  the  other  side.  How 
much  these  are  worth  may  be  gathered  by  comparing 
one  made  early  in  October  by  the  Minister  of  the 
Interior  to  the  effect  that  "  All  Governors  reported  their 
States  free  from  disturbances  "  with  the  fact,  verified 
by  myself,  on  the  spot,  that  each  of  the  four  railways 
running  south  from  the  United  States  frontier  was 
blocked  by  fighting. 

Most  people  in  the  United  States  are,  therefore, 
densely  ignorant  about  Mexico,  although  it  lies  next 
door  to  them.  They  are  flatly  opposed  to  "  inter- 
vention," if  it  means  losing  lives  and  spending  money. 
They  say,  "  If  Americans  go  to  these  barbarous  lands 
they  must  take  their  chance."  If  they  have  any  view 
of  the  political  situation  at  all  it  is  that  "  President 
Huerta  is  a  bad  man  "  and  that  a  pious  country  (like 
the  United  States)  ought  not  to  encourage  him;  or 
that  the  best  plan — this  I  have  heard  hundreds  say — 
would  be  to  let  each  side  buy  arms  and  ammunition 
freely  (from  the  United  States)  and  fight  it  out.  But 
in  Texas,  in  New  Mexico,  in  Arizona,  especially  in  the 
southern  parts,  which  lie  next  to  Mexico,  feeling  against 
President  Wilson  and  Mr.  Secretary  Bryan  is  bitter  and 
contemptuous. 

I  travelled  one  day  with  an  official  of  the  United 
States  Immigration  Department.  In  the  course  of 
duty  he  had  to  go  over  from  El  Paso  to  Juarez  to  make 
inquiries  about  a  coloured  man  who  had  committed 


24  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

some  offence  in  the  United  States.  This  man  had  in 
the  meantime  joined  the  Mexican  Army  and  been  made 
a  lieutenant.  He  had  the  immigration  agent  arrested 
by  four  soldiers  without  any  warrant  on  a  charge 
of  "  being  about  to  attempt  to  kidnap  him."  The 
soldiers  marched  the  agent  off  towards  the  hills ;  being 
convinced  that  they  would  shoot  him  if  they  got  him 
there,  he  ran  away.  They  fired  and  shot  him  through 
the  stomach.  He  managed  to  get  to  the  Civil  Police 
Post,  but  even  there  he  lay  for  twenty-four  hours  with- 
out proper  treatment,  and  his  release  was  only  secured 
by  the  resolute  action  of  another  immigration  officer. 
I  asked  him  what  his  Government  had  done.  "  Done  ? 
Done  nothing  !  "  he  said  savagely.  "  Holding  some 
sort  of  an  inquiry  !  I  tell  you  the  people  of  my 
country,  so  long  as  they  get  enough  to  eat  and  can  go 
to  the  picture  shows  at  night,  don't  care  what  happens." 
I  was  reminded  of  what  a  fine  old  American  soldier  had 
said  to  me  a  day  or  two  before.  "  There  isn't  as  much 
red  blood  in  this  people  as  there  used  to  be." 

If  there  were,  they  would  surely  resent  and  demand 
redress  both  for  injuries  inflicted  and  for  property 
destroyed.  Out  of  a  great  number  of  cases  related  to 
me  by  people  who  have  suffered  in  pocket  at  the  hands 
of  the  Constitutionalists  I  pick  a  few.  At  Poquilla, 
in  Chihuahua,  where  a  dam  is  being  built  for  power  and 
irrigation,  a  demand  was  made  upon  the  manager  for 
£1000.  His  refusal  to  pay  was  followed  immediately 
by  a  threat  to  shoot  him.  He  was  thrown  into  a  ditch 
while  the  offices  were  seized  and  searched.  After  a 
time  he  agreed  to  find  the  money  in  return  for  an  under- 
taking that  he  should  not  be  molested  again.  That 
undertaking  was  not  kept.  The  owner  of  a  flour  mill 
in  Saltillo  described  to  me  the  utter  devastation  of 


HOW  PROPERTY  SUFFERS  25 

his  property.  Everything  was  taken.  Even  the  belts 
of  the  machinery  were  cut  up  into  accoutrements. 
Fine  grain  was  poured  out  in  vast  quantities  for  the 
horses  to  trample  as  they  fed.  For  two  days  this  mill 
was  the  hottest  centre  of  a  battle;  as  he  put  it,  "  the 
place  was  shot  all  to  pieces."  Near  Saltillo  the  Mazapil 
Copper  Company,  of  which  the  capital  is  held  mainly  in 
the  North  of  England,  has  done  no  work  to  speak  of  for 
eight  or  nine  months.  The  Federals  are  at  one  end  of 
its  private  line  of  railway  from  Saltillo  to  Concepcion ; 
the  rebels  at  the  other,  so  they  are  between  two  fires. 
Close  to  this  is  a  big  ranch  upon  which  the  rebels  seized 
all  the  animals  and  all  the  crops ;  the  loss  is  reckoned  at 
£150,000.  In  another  part  of  Coahuila  the  Cloete  ranch 
was  pillaged  to  the  extent  of  £10,000  while  the  Consti- 
tutionalists were  in  control  of  the  district. 

The  Mexico  North- Western  Railway  in  Chihuahua 
has  been  at  a  standstill  since  June  1913,  after  suffering 
losses  for  two  years  before  that.  Its  500  miles  of  track 
are  in  a  part  of  the  country  where  fighting  has  been 
pretty  well  continuous.  Both  sides  have  damaged  it. 
Mr.  Crockett,  the  general  manager,  told  me  that  up 
to  the  beginning  of  October  856  bridges  had  been  re- 
built or  repaired ;  at  that  time  seventy-eight  were  still 
down.  This  railway  links  up  a  series  of  mines  and 
lumber  properties,  belonging  to  the  S.  F.  Pearson 
interest  (which  has  nothing  to  do  with  Lord  Cowdray's 
firm).  The  mines  are  mostly  idle.  The  railway  is 
doing  nothing;  miles  of  its  track  are  torn  up;  its 
rolling  stock  is  scattered  all  over  the  country.  The 
loss  is  roughly  calculated  at  'half  a  million  sterling,  and 
the  end  is  not  yet.  While  I  was  in  El  Paso  the  Gover- 
nor of  Chihuahua  was  urging  Mr.  Crockett  to  run  trains 
over  a  certain  part  of  the  line,  assuring  him  that  the 


26  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

line  was  clear  of  rebels.  At  the  same  time  the  rebels 
threatened  to  destroy  more  bridges  if  any  train  should 
start  ! 

The  Southern  Pacific  of  Mexico  has  also  lost  the 
greater  part  of  its  traffic.  For  a  long  time  it  has  been 
running  at  a  loss,  and  to  repair  the  damage  done  would 
cost,  so  Colonel  Randolph,  the  president,  estimates, 
£800,000.  Between  the  two  parties  the  position  of 
any  business  is  difficult  and  dangerous;  that  of  a 
railway  in  the  heart  of  the  rebel  country  is  desperate 
indeed. 

In  some  cases  the  Constitutionalists  have  been 
"  bluffed  "  by  a  bold  front.  Colonel  Randolph  himself 
was  captured  by  Maderistas  on  his  own  line  and  ran- 
som demanded.  He  refused  it  with  so  much  spirit 
and  threatened  reprisals  so  fiercely  that  he  was  allowed 
to  go  on  his  way.  That  was  during  the  rebellion 
against  President  Diaz.  Six  months  afterwards  on  the 
same  stretch  of  line  he  was  warned  of  danger  and  he 
asked  for  a  Federal  escort.  The  "  brigand  "  who  had 
captured  him  before  was  now  in  command  of  the 
district,  appointed  thereto  by  President  Madero. 

It  is  the  Mexican  nature  to  give  way  before  even  a 
show  of  force.  A  rebel  band  about  forty  miles  from 
Nuevo  Laredo  carried  off  five  Americans  and  put  a 
price  (£800)  upon  their  release.  The  United  States 
Consul  went  out  to  look  for  them.  He  obtained  per- 
mission to  use  soldiers  and  took  seven  men  with  him 
along  the  American  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande.  The 
rebels  were  on  the  other  side  of  this  river,  which  was 
almost  dry.  The  Consul  went  across  alone  and  asked 
for  his  fellow-countrymen.  "  I  will  release  them  when 
I  receive  $4000,"  replied  the  officer  in  charge.  "  You 
will  release  them  now,"  said  the  old  Consul.  "  Even 


HOW  PROPERTY  SUFFERS  27 

if  they  wanted  to  pay,  I  would  not  let  them.  Look 
across  the  river  and  see  the  army  I  have  brought  with 
me."  The  captain  saw  the  seven  men  lying  about  and 
imagined  the  rest.  He  asked  to  be  excused  for  a 
moment,  went  into  another  room,  then  came  back  and 
said  cheerfully  it  was  fortunate  that  he  had  just  re- 
ceived an  order  to  release  the  prisoners.  This  was  his 
method  of  "  saving  his  face." 

If  "  bluff  "  is  as  effectual  as  that,  the  Big  Stick  would 
be  far  more  so.  Had  the  United  States  Government 
taken  a  firmer  line  and  refused  to  permit  its  citizens 
to  be  robbed  and  murdered,  Mexico  would  be  safe  for 
foreigners  to-day.  As  things  stand,  neither  Mexican 
nor  American  considers  himself  or  his  property  secure. 
At  Laredo  there  were,  after  the  railway  had  been  again 
cut,  a  large  number  of  people  waiting  to  return  to  their 
families  or  their  business  in  Mexico.  I  could  not  under- 
stand why  they  made  no  attempt  to  travel  by  road.  I 
soon  found  out.  A  few  months  ago  a  man  started  with 
a  party  in  a  motor-car.  A  rebel  patrol  called  on  them 
to  stop.  They  did  not  stop  and  were  fired  on.  That 
made  them  pull  up.  For  seven  days  they  were  kept 
apart,  scarcely  speaking  to  any  one.  Then  they  were 
taken  up  to  the  frontier  of  the  State  of  Coahuila  and 
allowed  to  go.  Six  weeks  later  the  motor-car  was 
returned  by  train  with  £10  to  pay.  It  was  in  a  ruined 
condition ;  the  rebels  had  used  it  until  they  could  use 
it  no  more. 

Yet  for  all  these  outrages  there  is  no  redress.  The 
American  theory  seems  to  be  that  foreigners  have  no 
rights  in  Mexico  and  ought  not  to  expect  protection. 
'  We  don't  expect  it,"  an  American  said  to  me,  a 
Southerner,  too,  who  has  been  a  Democrat  all  his  life ; 
"  not  from  this  schoolmaster  at  Washington.  If 


28  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

Roosevelt  had  been  President  he'd  have  known  what 
to  do."  I  heard  that  sentiment  often  expressed. 

After  my  night's  journey  from  San  Antonio  I  jumped 
out  of  the  train  at  Laredo  expecting  to  find  another 
waiting  which  would  take  me  to  Monterrey.  My  hopes 
were  dashed  immediately.  There  had  not  been  a  train 
south  for  three  days.  There  might  be  one  any  day, 
but  nobody  knew.  The  last  out  was  supposed  to  have 
been  dynamited.  A  battle  was  known  to  be  going  on 
about  ten  miles  down  the  line.  Reports  of  rebel 
success  flew  about  all  day  and  by  nightfall  there  was 
every  expectation  that  the  Mexican  town  across  the 
river,  Nuevo  Laredo,  would  be  shelled  next  morning. 

But  in  Mexico  the  expected  seldom  happens. 


IV 

ACROSS  THE   DESERT   IN   A  MULE-COACH 

'  THIS  so-called  twentieth  century  "  is  a  phrase 
which  often  occurs  to  one  in  Mexico — without  any 
ironical  significance. 

At  sunny,  dusty  Laredo,  while  I  waited  day  after 
day  for  a  train  to  run  south,  I  began  by  treating  the 
complete  isolation  of  Mexico  City,  so  far  as  railways 
from  the  United  States  border  are  concerned,  as  a 
joke.  Before  I  left  there  I  had  ceased  to  see  the  funny 
side  of  it.  There  are  some  places  in  which  I  might  be 
forced  to  spend  a  week  without  grumbling,  but  Laredo 
is  not  one  of  them.  Dozens  of  us  were  cooped  up  in 
two  arid,  comfortless  hotels,  with  nothing  to  do  but 
ask  each  other,  "  Is  there  no  chance  of  a  train  ?  " 

Every  morning  a  little  party  of  us  would  cross  the 
bridge  from  United  States  Laredo  to  the  Mexican  town 
across  the  river  (the  Rio  Grande)  in  order  to  ask  the 
Mexican  general  if  he  had  any  comfort  for  us.  He  was 
invariably  polite,  although  depressed.  An  oldish  man 
with  deeply  furrowed  forehead  and  lack-lustre  eye,  he 
looked  at  us  wearily  and  mechanically  repeated  his 
formula,  "  Three  or  four  days."  At  first  he  attributed 
the  broken  line  to  floods.  But  we  knew  there  was 
fighting  near  at  hand,  for  we  saw  troop  trains  going  off, 
saw  wounded  brought  in,  and  heard  from  rebel  sympa- 
thizers of  a  plan  to  cut  Laredo  off  from  Monterrey. 
So  after  a  while  the  old  general  dropped  pretence  and 

29 


30  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

admitted  that  before  he  could  repair  the  bridges  blown 
up  he  had  to  clear  the  country  of  rebels. 

That  settled  it.  I  gave  up  the  railway  as  hopeless, 
and  looked  around  for  some  other  means  of  making 
my  way  south.  With  five  others,  who  were  very 
anxious  to  get  either  to  their  homes  or  their  businesses 
in  Mexico,  I  asked  the  general  for  a  pass  to  go  across 
country.  He  gave  it  on  condition  that  we  provided 
our  own  conveyance.  We  agreed  cheerfully  and  he 
almost  smiled.  I  wondered  why  at  the  moment. 
Afterwards  I  understood. 

In  high  spirits  we  went  to  a  motor  garage  on  the 
American  side.  Could  we  have  a  car?  Possibly. 
What  would  it  cost?  Fifty  pounds.  We  gasped. 
Fifty  pounds  to  go  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  ?  Not  a 
cent  less,  and  in  addition  we  must  deposit  £250,  the 
value  of  the  car,  in  case  the  Carranzistas  seized  it. 
"  Ridiculous  !  "  we  said,  and  tramped  off  in  a  body  to 
another  garage.  Here  we  had  an  amusing  experience 
of  the  Mexican  character.  It  was  now  nearing  midday. 
In  the  shed  which  we  entered  half-a-dozen  black-haired, 
olive-skinned  chauffeurs  and  mechanics  were  lolling 
in  attitudes  of  utter  and  unashamed  laziness.  Not  one 
of  them  stirred.  We  asked  for  the  proprietor.  He 
was  at  home.  Could  he  be  telephoned  to  ?  A  languid 
arm  waved  us  to  the  instrument.  Then  the  twelve 
eyes  closed  again  and  we  were  left  to  do  the  best  we 
could.  We  got  no  satisfaction.  The  same  demand  for 
a  deposit  was  made.  We  went  sadly  away. 

However,  we  soon  cheered  up  again.  We  must  have 
a  wagon,  then.  It  would  take  longer,  but  that  we 
must  put  up  with.  So  back  we  went  to  the  Mexican 
side  and  set  about  finding  some  one  who  would  take 
us  in  a  wheeled  vehicle  with  a  good  span  of  mules. 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  IN  A  MULE-COACH    81 

We  might  as  well  have  saved  ourselves  the  trouble. 
If  the  Americans  were  afraid  for  their  money,  the 
Mexicans  were  afraid  of  their  lives.  Some  of  them 
said  so  frankly.  Others  trumped  up  excuses.  One 
man  "  could  have  started  yesterday/'  but  to-day  did 
not  feel  well.  Another  pleaded  that  his  wife  would  be 
nervous.  A  third  was  not  sure  of  the  way.  We.  left 
the  Mexican  town  to  frizzle  in  its  hot  sunshine  and 
tried  carriage-owners  on  the  American  side.  Some 
were  ready  to  talk  business  if  we  would  guarantee 
the  value  of  their  horses  or  mules.  Most  of  them  refused 
even  to  discuss  terms.  I  explained  that  I  had  a  pass 
through  the  Constitutionalist  lines  in  addition  to  our 
Federal  safe-conduct.  No,  no,  they  knew  the  danger 
too  well ! 

Exasperated,  we  asked  one  man,  an  American 
Mexican,  what  he  was  afraid  of.  '  They  would  kill 
me,"  he  said.  "  Why?  They  are  your  own  country- 
men, aren't  they?"  "No,  sefior,"  he  responded. 
"  I  am  an  American."  (He  could  not  speak  a  word  of 
English.)  "  But  why  should  they  kill  you?  "  "  Be- 
cause, sefior,"  he  said  with  magnificent  simplicity,  using 
a  vulgar  Spanish  phrase,  which  I  translate  into  words 
less  terse  then  the  original,  "  because  they  are  all  the 
offspring  of  abandoned  women." 

Our  ill-luck  scared  two  of  the  party  off.  Now  we 
were  four.  One  was  a  German,  determined  at  all 
hazards  to  get  back  to  his  wife  and  children  in  Mon- 
terrey. The  next,  an  Englishman,  had  important 
business  there.  The  third  was  an  American,  a  mining 
engineer  bound  for  his  mines  near  Saltillo.  We  talked 
over  all  possibilities.  We  asked  the  general  if  we 
could  travel  in  a  work-train.  "Si,"  he  said,  "  when 
the  next  one  is  able  to  run."  "  And  when  will  that  be, 


32  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

general?"  He  shrugged  his  tired  shoulders.  "We 
are  at  war,  gentlemen.  Who  can  say?  "  Next  day 
we  had  further  proof  of  the  state  of  warfare.  The 
Mexican  end  of  the  bridge  was  closed.  Our  safe-con- 
duct gained  us  passage,  but  no  one  without  a  permit 
was  allowed  through. 

Another  annoyance  was  the  scarcity  of  silver. 
Mexican  currency  is  largely  in  notes.  One  of  our 
party  tendered  a  five-peso  note  (a  peso  is  in  normal 
times  worth  two  shillings)  to  the  conductor  of  the 
rickety  street-car.  He  declined  to  give  change,  so  four 
of  us  got  our  ride  for  nothing  !  At  half  a  dozen  places 
(including  banks)  he  tried  to  get  rid  of  it.  Everywhere 
change  was  refused.  No  one  would  part  with  real 
money.  Every  one  distrusted  notes.  And  they  had 
some  reason,  for  the  silver  peso  contains  very  nearly 
two  shillingsworth  of  silver,  whereas  the  exchange 
value  of  paper  money  had  dropped  in  some  places  to 
one-and-fourpence.  That  is  one  result  of  civil  war. 

At  last  we  made  out  plans.  We  decided  to  take 
train  from  Laredo  to  Brownsville,  Texas,  which  is 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande.  Thence  we  would 
travel  by  rail  on  the  American  side  as  far  as  the  line 
along  the  valley  goes.  After  that  we  would  cross  the 
river  into  Mexico  and  drive.  Of  course,  all  heavy 
luggage  had  to  be  left  behind.  We  could  only  take  a 
suit-case  each.  But  the  prospect  of  escape  was  so 
heartening  that  I  believe  we  would  gladly  have  started 
without  anything  at  all.  The  other  people  in  the  hotel 
wagged  their  heads  at  us.  "  You're  running  a  great 
risk,"  they  maundered.  I  quoted  Kipling  at  them — 

"  If  there  should  follow  a  thousand  swords  to  carry  my  bones 

away, 
Belike  the  price  of  a  jackal's  meal  were  more  than  a  thief 

could  pay!" 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  IN  A  MULE-COACH     33 

Really  there  was  no  danger  to  speak  of.  But  after  a 
week  of  Laredo  we  would  have  taken  any  risk. 

It  took  us  eighteen  hours  to  go  by  train  from  Laredo 
to  Brownsville,  and,  when  we  arrived,  we  found  that 
we  had  left  the  frying-pan  for  the  fire.  Laredo  was 
hot,  but  dry.  The  heat  of  Brownsville  wrapped  itself 
round  us  like  steaming  wet  flannel.  Thirst  was 
incessant.  The  slightest  movement  brought  on  prickly 
heat.  Meals  were  torture  :  exhausted  though  one  felt, 
there  was  nothing  in  the  multitude  of  saucers  slammed 
down  before  one  to  spur  the  appetite  and  scarcely 
anything  one  could  eat  at  all. 

This  barbarian  method  of  serving  meals  all  at  once 
makes  travelling  in  Texas  a  nightmare.  The  meat  is 
like  leather.  The  messes  which  the  saucers  contain 
are  the  production  of  Chinese  cooks,  and  at  their 
best  untempting.  How  any  stomach  can  long  endure 
them,  washed  down  by  coffee  or  iced  tea,  the  universal 
dinner  and  supper  drinks,  I  cannot  understand. 

However,  we  had  no  idea  of  staying  longer  than  was 
necessary  to  fit  out  our  expedition  and  to  get  the 
good  word  of  General  Lucio  Blanco,  the  Constitu- 
tionalist commander  in  Matamoros,  a  Mexican  town  a 
mile  or  two  across  the  border.  Almost  every  one  in 
these  Texan  frontier  towns  is  on  the  side  of  the  Consti- 
tutionalists, and  many  actively  assist  them,  so  we  soon 
found  a  prominent  man  who  was  in  their  counsels 
and  who  agreed  to  be  our  friend.  As  the  four  of  us 
jogged  with  him  in  a  filthy  street-car  drawn  by  one 
wretched  mule,  through  the  long  street  of  Matamoros, 
the  desolation  of  the  once  flourishing  city  lay  upon  our 
spirits  like  lead.  It  was  cynically  curious  to  hear  the 
gentle  young  Insurrecto  officers  talk  about  the  benefits 
their  party  meant  to  heap  upon  the  common  folk, 
D 


34  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

and  to  look  out  of  window  upon  the  deserted  unkempt 
Plaza.  The  Constitutionalists  may  be  the  friends  of 
the  people ;  but  the  people  do  not  seem  to  have  realized 
it  yet. 

These  young  officers  were  clever  fellows,  one  a  doctor, 
one  an  engineer,  another  an  accountant,  and  so  on. 
They  told  us  proudly  how  the  division  of  land  among 
the  peasants  had  already  begun.  They  were  clearly 
in  earnest  about  their  Radical  plans  :  their  enthusiasm 
for  "  the  cause  "  was  no  pretence.  One  turned  back 
his  coat  and  showed  me  pinned  over  his  heart  a  little 
button  portrait  of  President  Madero.  "  We  most  of 
us  wear  it,"  he  said  reverently.  Then  General  Blanco 
came  in,  a  big,  dark,  resolute-looking  man  of  quite  a 
different  type.  I  doubt  whether  he  had  the  Madero 
button  on  his  shirt. 

He  was  very  civil  to  us,  however,  and  issued  through 
his  Chief  of  Staff  a  permit  to  pass  safely  through  the 
country  held  by  the  Carranza  faction.  This  business 
settled,  we  did  our  shopping.  First,  we  bought  tin 
mugs  and  a  tin  can  for  boiling  coffee  in.  For  food 
we  took  baked  beans,  cracker  biscuits  and  a  few  tins 
of  jam.  Then  after  a  moving  picture  show,  we  went 
early  to  bed. 

The  journey  next  morning  to  a  place  called  Sam 
Fordyce  was  tedious.  We  were  to  begin  our  two- 
hundred-mile  drive  from  there,  and  we  were  impatient 
of  the  long  drag  in  a  slow  and  fusty  train.  Yet  when 
we  saw  the  motor-car  which  was  to  take  us  our  first 
stage  to  a  village  called  Roma,  we  heartily  wished  the 
train  went  further.  I  have  never  seen  a  car  plastered 
so  thickly  with  mud. 

The  driver  said  cheerfully  he  guessed  there  was  a 
quarter  of  a  ton  of  it.  That  showed  us  what  the 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  IN  A  MULE-COACH    35 

roads  were  like.  I  say  "  roads,"  but,  to  speak  truly, 
there  are  no  roads  in  this  part  of  Texas,  any  more  than 
there  are  in  Mexico.  There  are  "  trails  "  :  we  should 
call  them  cart-tracks,  and  bad  cart-tracks  at  that. 

If  ever  that  driver  wants  a  certificate  of  proficiency, 
I  should  be  glad  to  give  it  to  him.  The  way  he  took 
us  through  rivers  and  lakes  and  slush-ponds  was 
marvellous.  He  covered  forty  miles  in  less  than  four 
hours  and  landed  us  in  Roma  just  as  dark  fell  with 
the  suddenness  of  a  switched-off  electric  light.  We 
found  we  were  in  a  queer  place,  an  American  village 
where  there  was  only  one  American  inhabitant  (he  was 
away)  and  scarcely  any  one  who  could  speak  English. 

At  the  inn  we  were  served  by  a  Mexican  waiter 
(who  seemed  to  me  to  have  stepped  out  of  Don  Quixote 
or  Gil  Bias)  with  a  Mexican  meal  of  tortillas  (thin  flat 
maize  cakes),  goafs-flesh  (uneatable),  red  sausage 
meat  (very  palatable),  "  frijoles,"  the  favourite  Mexican 
bean,  and  coffee.  When  you  get  over  the  smell  of 
tortillas  (due,  I  believe,  to  the  lime  which  is  mixed 
with  them),  and  the  strong  flavour  of  the  meat,  and  the 
surprise  of  getting  your  mouth  burnt  by  the  red  or 
green  peppers  with  which  every  dish  is  seasoned, 
Mexican  small-town  cookery  is  pretty  good — certainly 
better  then  American.  On  the  other  hand,  I  prefer 
the  American  small-town  hotel.  In  five  days — for  a 
reason  which  I  leave  to  be  imagined — we  only  had  our 
clothes  off  once  :  that  was  when  we  slept  in  a  hospitable 
American  house. 

In  Roma,  having  unanimously  decided  not  to  undress, 
we  lay  down  disconsolate  outside  our  dubious-looking 
cots.  We  were  sad  for  this  reason.  After  long 
negotiations  with  a  pair  of  brothers,  they  had  promised 


36  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

to  find  us  a  wagon  and  mules  to  carry  us  to  a  place 
called  Alamo,  nine  miles  up  the  river.  Here  we  could 
cross  the  Rio  Grande  into  Mexico,  tramp  to  a  town 
called  Mier,  and  there  try  to  hire  a  coach.  One  brother 
was  to  come  and  tell  us  as  soon  as  the  arrangement 
was  made,  but  all  the  evening  we  wearily  waited  and 
he  never  came.  Luckily  about  twenty  minutes  after 
we  had  dropped  off,  we  were  awakened.  Everything 
was  fixed  for  a  start  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
We  slept  again,  our  hearts  full  of  thankful  joy. 

It  was  not  so  joyful  to  rouse  up  in  the  darkness,  but 
coffee  put  us  right  and  we  rumbled  off  in  the  moonlight 
quite  content.  By  the  time  we  got  to  Alamo  it  was 
day,  and  when,  alter  ferrying  across,  we  had  walked 
the  three  miles  into  Mier  (letting  our  bags  follow  in  an 
ox-cart),  the  sun  was  already  hot.  Another  deserted 
desolate  place  we  found  this,  with  scarcely  any  one 
about  but  Insurrecto  soldiers.  Our  first  visit  was  to 
the  "  jefe  "  or  commander.  He  was  a  genial  ruffian, 
who  told  us,  though  he  had  no  English,  that  he  had  been 
one  of  Colonel  Roosevelt's  Cow  Boys  in  Cuba.  He 
grinned  and  shook  his  head  at  the  notion  of  finding  a 
coach  in  Mier.  Happily  one  of  his  captains  came  to 
the  rescue.  He  had  one.  Our  hearts  leapt.  It  was 
out  on  his  ranch  nine  miles  off.  He  would  send  for  it 
and  get  it  into  town  by  noon. 

That  day  we  spent  in  Mier  was  like  an  unpleasant 
dream.  We  strolled  round  the  abandoned  houses, 
many  of  which  had  been  used  as  stables  for  the  troopers' 
horses.  We  played  cards.  We  had  a  couple  of  meals, 
made  hideous  by  millions  of  flies.  We  sat  outside  the 
guard-room  with  our  captain,  wondering  miserably 
whether  he  had  really  sent  for  his  coach  at  all.  At' 
last  about  five  o'clock  it  rattled  into  the  Plaza  behind 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  IN  A  MULE-COACH     37 

a  couple  of  the  poorest  mules  we  had  ever  seen.  Down 
drooped  our  spirits  once  more.  But  the  captain  was 
a  man  of  action. 

"  Go,"  he  said  to  a  couple  of  soldiers.  "  Say  to  Don 
Emilio  that  the  '  jefe  '  would  be  glad  if  he  would  lend 
these  gentlemen  a  pair  of  mules — and  if  he  won't 
lend  them,  take  them." 

In  a  few  minutes  they  came — we  did  not  inquire 
whether  lent  or  "  taken  " — and  then  we  set  to  work 
to  get  our  luggage  strapped  on.  A  small  crowd 
hindered  us  with  well-meant  advice,  but  in  spite  of 
them  we  got  everything  stowed,  and  just  as  the  last 
of  the  daylight  went,  our  driver  cried  "  Oola  moola  " 
to  the  animals,  whipped  them  up  briskly,  and,  swaying 
like  a  small  boat  in  a  choppy  sea,  we  started  off. 

When  you  hear  of  "  driving  through  a  country," 
you  think  no  doubt  of  a  good  road  like  the  roads  of 
Europe;  of  roadside  inns;  of  villages  at  frequent 
intervals ;  of  towns  in  which  to  pull  up  at  nightfall. 
If  the  drive  continues  through  the  dark  hours,  you 
imagine  a  countryside  dotted  with  friendly  lights  from 
dwellings,  single  or  in  groups.  Driving  through 
Northern  Mexico  is  not  like  that  at  all. 

In  the  hundred  and  fifty  miles  which  we  had  still 
to  do  when  we  left  Mier  in  our  mule-coach  for  Monterrey 
we  only  passed  through  three  little  towns ;  no  villages. 
We  drove  one  day  from  five  o'clock  in  the  morning 
until  three  in  the  afternoon  without  meeting  a  soul. 
The  country  is  a  desert,  in  autumn  brightly  green  with 
low  bush,  and  in  places  even  made  gay  by  grass  and 
flowers  after  heavy  rains,  but  usually  grey  and  sullen. 
There  is  very  little  water,  as  we  learnt  sadly.  It  is  hard 
in  a  scorching  noon  to  eat  canned  beans,  with  biscuits 
and  jam  to  follow,  and  have  nothing  whatever  to  drink. 


38  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

As  for  roads  through  this  wilderness,  well,  to  put 
it  plainly,  there  are  none.  There  are  merely 
rough  trails,  sometimes  quite  difficult  to  find.  They 
run  through  marshes,  through  rivers,  down  steep 
"  arroyos "  (ravines)  and  up  the  other  side,  your 
coach-pole  pointing  to  Heaven.  They  set  you  plough- 
ing through  deep  sand,  or  floundering  in  mud  up  to 
the  axles  of  your  wheels.  They  are  so  narrow  that 
you  have  to  be  perpetually  on  guard  against  thorny 
switches  tearing  hands  and  face.  As  for  their  ruts, 
I  shall  not  describe  them,  for  no  one  would  believe  me. 
I  will  only  say  that  for  the  first  half -hour  of  our  journey 
I  expected  every  minute  that  our  coach  would  turn 
over.  I  cannot  even  now  understand  why  it  did  not. 

Until  that  dark  night  (we  started  at  sunset,  and  the 
moon  did  not  rise  until  after  nine)  I  had  never  known 
why  some  folks  are  fearful  when  ships  rock  at  sea. 
After  being  pitched  and  tossed  in  that  coach,  I  can 
enter  into  their  feelings  exactly.  When  you  have 
got  accustomed  to  this  kind  of  driving,  you  take  every- 
thing as  it  comes.  Your  vehicle  may  suddenly  tilt 
to  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees,  one  wheel  in  a  rut 
three  feet  deep,  the  other  pursuing  its  course  upon  the 
level,  without  alarming  you  in  the  least.  It  may  toss 
you  violently  by  dropping  into  a  hollow,  and  being 
jerked  out  again  with  a  wrench  that  seems  bound  to 
burst  it  asunder;  you  pay  no  heed.  But  until  the 
conviction  is  acquired  that  the  coach,  flimsy  as  it 
looks,  will  never  turn  over,  the  beginner  has  an  anxious 
time. 

We  made  slow  progress.  It  was  hard  to  pick  out 
the  track,  and  after  we  had  passed  a  blazing  camp-fire 
of  Constitutionalists,  the  change  from  glare  to  black- 
ness blinded  us  altogether;  so  we  took  it  in  turns  to 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  IN  A  MULE-COACH    89 

carry  a  lantern  a  little  way  ahead.  We  were  challenged 
of  course  by  the  campers,  "  Quien  vive?"  (Who 
goes  there  ?)  was  shouted  as  we  came  near.  "  Gente 
buena  "  (Honest  folk)  we  cried  in  answer.  Half-a- 
dozen  kindly  rough  fellows,  with  rifles  in  hand,  clustered 
round  us,  examined  my  pass,  and  gave  us  a  hearty 
"  God-speed-you,"  as  we  crawled  on  our  way.  After 
three  hours'  walking  we  saw  the  first  light,  and  hoped 
it  was  the  "  ranchito  "  (little  farm)  where  we  were  to 
beg  shelter  for  a  few  hours'  sleep.  But  that  was  still 
a  mile  or  so  ahead. 

When  we  got  there  our  driver  had  to  wake  the 
family  up.  Their  dwelling  consisted  of  two  separate 
huts,  each  about  ten  feet  square  and  seven  feet  high. 
In  one  was  a  fireplace ;  a  few  pots  and  cups  and  dishes 
on  a  shelf  proclaimed  it  the  living-room.  The  other 
contained  a  large  bed  :  in  and  around  it  at  least  five 
people  slept.  From  the  living-room  a  man  stretched 
in  a  cattle-trough  was  turned  out  sulkily  yawning ;  and 
an  unsuccessful  attempt  made  to  arouse  a  little  boy. 
A  calfskin  was  thrown  upon  the  ground;  a  blanket 
over  that  made  us  imagine  the  uneven  brick  floor  a 
shade  softer ;  and  we  lay  down  to  slumber  brokenly 
for  a  few  hours.  At  two  I  wished  it  were  four.  At 
four  we  rose  up,  glad  to  leave  our  hard  couch ;  made 
coffee  in  our  pot  over  the  fire ;  ate  some  beans ;  shook 
hands  all  round  with  our  hosts  (this  must  never  be 
omitted) ;  and  drove  off  in  the  chilly  darkness  at  a 
quarter  to  five. 

Do  you  ever  think,  you  who  are  not  out  of  bed  till 
long  after  daylight,  how  eagerly  the  sun  may  be 
awaited  by  toilers  or  travellers  before  dawn  ?  Until 
you  have  longed  for  him,  watched  the  first  red  streaks 
that  tell  of  his  coming,  and  then  luxuriated  in  his 


40  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

light  and  warmth,  you  cannot  fully,  with  Saint  Francis 
of  Assisi,  "  praise  the  Lord  for  our  brother,  the  Sun." 
In  the  joy  of  a  new  day  our  spirits  rose  bravely.  We 
made  up  our  minds  we  should  reach  our  first  stage,  a 
place  called  Trevino,  about  midday.  But  we  had 
not  realized  the  laziness  of  our  mules.  They  moved 
like  slugs.  The  driver  worked  far  harder  then  they 
did,  shouting  at  them,  and  cracking  his  whip,  and 
tugging  at  the  reins  all  the  time. 

We  gave  them  a  rest,  sleeping  ourselves  the  while 
in  the  shade  of  a  thorn-tree,  and  taking  care  not  to 
lie  upon  cactus  plants.  Still  they  went  no  better.  At 
last  one  of  us  saw  a  long  stout  stick  lying  near  the  trail. 
He  called  to  the  driver,  who  stepped  down  and  picked 
it  up.  Its  effect  was  marvellous.  The  mules  broke 
at  once  into  a  trot  which  they  kept  up,  with  an  occa- 
sional reminder  of  the  stick's  persuasive  quality,  until 
we  drove  into  Trevino  between  three  and  four 
o'clock. 

Here  at  the  Insurrectos'  headquarters  we  were 
received  with  enthusiasm  after  my  pass  had  been  read. 
The  chiefs  in  this  place  were  men  of  education  and 
intelligence.  They  found  time  hang  heavy,  and  were 
glad  of  any  incident  to  while  it  away.  We  chatted ; 
I  took  their  photographs ;  they  gave  us  sugar-cane  to 
eat,  all  the  hospitality  they  could  offer,  they  said 
ruefully.  They  got  no  letters  or  newspapers ;  in  this 
part  civil  war  has  stopped  the  posts.  In  their  wretched 
village  there  were  no  distractions.  What  a  life  for 
men  of  culture  and  active  mind  !  One,  who  had 
been  governor  of  a  State,  told  me  how  he  had  luckily 
escaped  being  killed  in  the  Capital.  "  I  was  the  man 
they  meant  to  burn,"  he  said  calmly.  A  spectacled 
major  had  been  before  the  revolution  a  bank  manager. 


ACROSS  THE  DESERT  IN  A  MULE-COACH     41 

A  captain  told  me  he  was  formerly  superintendent  of 
a  wax  factory. 

That  night  we  slept  at  an  American  mine-owner's 
house  near  Cerallvo,  a  town  which  he  made  by  pouring 
out  £10,000  a  month  in  wages.  Now  his  smelter  is 
shut  down,  the  population  has  dwindled,  his  enterprise 
is  rewarded  by  insult  and  robbery.  He  had  been 
obliged  to  provision  his  house  against  siege  and  famine, 
and  was  afraid  of  a  visit  from  the  rebels  while  we 
were  there.  They  had  threatened  to  search  for 
dynamite,  of  which  he  had  none ;  but  he  feared  they 
would  seize  his  flour  and  tinned  foods. 

After  Cerallvo  the  road  was  worse,  rock  instead  of 
sand,  and  loose  stones.  The  jolting  made  one  sore  all 
over.  We  had  better  mules  now  :  they  kept  up  a  steady 
trot.  But  there  were  times  when  I  should  have  been 
glad  for  them  to  walk  like  our  first  pair.  However, 
this  was  our  last  day  but  one,  and  in  the  evening  at 
the  "  fonda  "  of  a  little  town  called  Merin,  we  eat 
some  excellent  roast  "  caborrito  "  (young  kid),  our 
first  fresh  meat  for  several  days.  So  we  were  cheerful 
in  spite  of  our  aching  bones. 

Off  at  half-past  four  next  morning,  we  soon  met 
another  enemy — mud.  We  had  to  get  out  and  push 
the  wheels  out  of  deep  thick  mire.  We  ruined  our 
boots  and  trousers.  We  splashed  through  swamps, 
and  clambered  along  barbed-wire  fences  tearing  hands 
and  clothes.  But  so  long  as  we  got  through,  we  minded 
nothing.  Twelve  miles  out  of  Monterrey  we  met  our 
first  Federals.  They  stopped  us,  but  soon  let  us  go. 
In  a  suburb  we  raided  a  baker's  :  after  living  on 
biscuits  and  tortillas  (maize  cakes),  bread  tastes  really 
good.  Just  before  noon  we  passed  the  Federal  post 
on  the  edge  of  the  City.  Three  men  slumbered  outside 


42  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

the  guard-room,  a  fourth  was  apparently  walking  in 
his  sleep.  A  carriage  from  the  enemy's  country  was 
allowed  to  drive  in  without  being  challenged.  No 
effort  made  to  get  information  from  us  !  No  questions 
asked  as  to  how  we  had  got  through  !  We  had  not 
to  wait  twenty-four  hours  to  mark  the  result  of  such 
slackness.  At  eight  o'clock  next  morning  the  rebels 
were  in  the  outskirts  of  the  town. 


BOMBARDED   IN   MONTERREY 

Is  there  any  pleasure  equal  to  the  joy  of  feeling 
clean  and  fresh  after  a  long,  fatiguing,  dirty  ride  ?  If 
there  is  I  do  not  know  it.  In  our  five  days'  journey 
across  the  wilderness  from  Matamoros  to  Monterrey 
we  only  had  our  clothes  off  once.  Imagine  the  delight 
with  which  we  bathed  and  shaved  and  put  on  our 
"  other  clothes."  Picture  the  effect  of  a  dainty 
luncheon-table  upon  men  who  had  been  eating  canned 
beans  and  crackers  off  the  lids  of  tins,  and  eating 
them  three  times  a  day  !  There  was  a  wondrous 
contentment  in  our  faces  as  we  sat  smoking  after 
lunch  in  a  sunny  patio  full  of  roses,  with  a  glorious 
pink  creeper  smothering  the  walls. 

Two  of  our  party  were  at  home  now.  The  other 
two  of  us  had  no  idea  of  letting  Monterrey  be  our 
Capua,  charming  city  though  it  is.  Mountains  on 
three  sides  of  it  cut  jagged  patterns  on  the  hot  blue 
sky.  Its  climate  extolled  by  some  of  its  inhabitants  as 
almost  perfect,  denounced  by  others  as  "  the  meanest 
ever,"  is  very  hot  in  summer,  but  in  autumn  delicious — 
cold  mornings  and  blue,  cloudless  days.  The  town  is 
attractively  perched  on  a  gentle  slope  overlooking  a 
wide  plain.  As  yet  it  is  in  the  growing  stage,  and  like 
a  girl  who  is  not  yet  quite  a  woman  it  is  rather  red 
about  the  elbows.  It  will  be  a  large  and  fine  city. 
Now  it  is  going  through  a  transition  period. 

43 


44  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

The  streets  still  have  a  small-town  air.  One  goes 
about  expecting  always  to  find  the  busy  thoroughfares 
round  the  next  corner,  and  never  finding  them.  There 
is  one  wide  boulevard  which  ought  to  be  impressive 
but  only  succeeds  in  being  dusty  beyond  belief.  This 
was  laid  out  by  General  Reyes,  a  powerful  man  in 
Mexico,  the  next  in  influence  to  Don  Porfirio;  who 
plotted  with  Felix  Diaz  against  Madero,  and  was  killed. 
General  Reyes  did  a  great  deal  for  Monterrey.  He  had 
large  views  and  valuable  connections.  He  helped  it 
into  the  way  of  becoming  a  busy  industrial  centre. 
There  are  three  big  smelters,  a  steel- works  and  a  cement- 
works  already;  a  brewery  from  which  good  beer  goes 
all  over  Mexico ;  large  lumber  yards ;  many  smaller 
concerns  destined  to  grow  beyond  a  doubt. 

The  enterprise  of  a  Canadian  company  has  given 
Monterrey  good  water,  electric  light  and  power,  gas, 
drainage,  and  excellent  street-cars.  It  has  a  large 
foreign  colony,  chiefly  Americans  and  Germans,  the 
most  friendly,  kindly  folk  imaginable.  Life  is  lived 
in  a  leisurely  fashion,  with  plenty  of  quiet  diversion 
in  the  shape  of  lawn-tennis,  bridge,  picnics  into  the 
mountains,  tea-parties  on  verandahs  looking  on  to 
gardens  filled  with  roses  all  the  year  round.  Yet, 
tempting  as  this  rich,  light-hearted  city  was,  the  mining 
engineer  was  anxious  to  get  to  Saltillo  and  I  equally 
determined  to  press  on  to  Mexico  City.  To  Saltillo 
there  were  no  trains,  but  the  Tampico  service  was 
running,  so  I  booked  for  the  next  morning  but  one, 
and  went  to  bed  that  night  with  the  happy  feeling 
that  my  way  seemed  now  to  lie  more  plain. 

But  Mexico  is  a  country  where  "  you  never  can  tell." 
Early  next  morning  I  dreamed  that  I  was  beating 
carpets.  I  awoke  and  sat  up.  The  noise  of  the  beating 


BOMBARDED  IN  MONTERREY     45 

went  on.  I  hit  my  head  against  the  wall  to  see  if  I 
were  not  dreaming  still.  Then  I  jumped  out  and  ran 
to  the  window.  What  I  heard  was  the  sound  of  heavy 
rifle  fire,  coming  from  the  direction  of  the  suburbs 
which  lie  out  on  the  plain,  the  suburbs  through  which 
we  had  passed  "  less  than  twenty-four  hours  ago," 
we  reminded  one  another.  With  the  patter  of  rifle 
shots  there  soon  mingled  the  dull  boom  of  artillery 
and  the  smart  tapping  of  machine  guns.  The  Con- 
stitutionalists were  attacking  the  city,  which  had 
hitherto  been  reckoned  secure  from  their  attentions, 
and  their  main  advance  covered  the  very  road  by 
which  we  had  come. 

On  the  evening  before  the  city  had  been  given  a 
warning.  At  half -past  nine  all  the  places  of  entertain- 
ment and  drinking  bars  were  closed  by  the  police.  But 
the  general  disposition  was  to  make  light  of  the  danger. 
Monterrey  is  a  city  full  of  foreign  interests.  "  They 
will  never  trouble  us  "  was  the  common  saying  among 
the  big  foreign  colony.  Further,  it  is  a  place  difficult 
to  attack,  or,  rather,  easy  to  defend.  On  three  sides 
it  is  closed  in  by  mountains ;  the  fourth  is  an  open 
plain  which  could  be  swept  by  artillery  fire,  and  where 
a  small  body  of  troops  strongly  entrenched  could  hold 
a  large  army  unprovided  with  guns.  But  the  Insur- 
rectos  caught  the  Federals  unprepared.  There  were 
no  strong  entrenchments,  there  was  no  heavy  artillery 
in  position.  Worse  than  that,  there  were  few  Federal 
troops  in  the  city.  The  headquarters  of  the  district 
were  removed  a  short  time  ago  to  Nuevo  Laredo, 
and  so  far  as  I  could  learn  the  garrison  of  Monterrey 
numbered,  when  the  attack  began,  less  than  a  thousand, 
with  a  few  hundred  civic  volunteers,  many  of  whom  had 
never  handled  a  rifle  before. 


46  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

Yet  another  element  was  in  the  Insurrectos'  favour. 
They  knew  there  were  many  Carranzistas  in  the  city. 
I  believe  they  counted  upon  an  armed  rising  of  several 
thousand  men.  This  conspiracy  was  checked  a  few 
days  before  the  assault,  by  the  arrest  and  dispatch  to 
Mexico  City,  via  Tampico,  of  the  most  active  disaffected 
citizens,  many  of  them  prominent  men.  That  step, 
coupled  with  a  forced  loan  of  £40,000  which  was  de- 
manded from  twenty  of  the  leading  business  houses, 
suggested  that  the  Government  of  General  Huerta  was 
awake  to  possible  trouble.  At  the  same  time  it  was 
announced  that  troops  were  being  hurried  northward. 
But  on  the  morning  when  the  attack  was  delivered  by 
General  Gonsalez  and  General  Jesus  Carranza,  brother 
to  the  chief  of  the  revolution,  at  the  head  of  4,500  men, 
the  situation  of  the  city  looked  bad.  Many  prophesied 
that  it  would  be  abandoned  to  the  rebels,  after  the 
fashion  of  Torreon. 

As  soon  as  the  firing  began  I  went  out  to  look  over 
the  positions  of  the  two  forces.  Walking  through  the 
streets,  already  empty,  I  was  surprised  to  see  so  many 
houses  decorated,  as  if  by  magic,  with  foreign  flags. 
Numbers  even  of  Mexicans  tried  to  protect  themselves 
in  this  way.  It  was  curious  to  pass  a  school  and  hear 
children  chanting  their  lessons  while  guns  sent  echoes 
rattling  through  the  mountains  and  rifle  bullets  made 
their  peculiar  noise,  like  the  drawing  in  of  breath 
between  the  lips,  overhead.  From  the  hill  called 
Obispado,  which  had  been  hastily  fortified  during  the 
night,  I  could  see  that  the  attacking  force  were  already 
in  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  pressing  forward  with 
heavy  rifle  fire,  but  apparently  without  guns.  They 
had  some  later,  but  were  not  using  them  then.  Every 


BOMBARDED  IN  MONTERREY    47 

now  and  then  their  advance  would  be  checked  by  a 
hail  of  lead  from  Maxims.  Then  there  would  be  a 
quick  mounting  of  horses,  a  gallop  to  another  position, 
and  a  resumption  of  rifle  fire  from  behind  any  shelter 
that  could  be  obtained. 

If  the  Constitutionalists  had  known  how  small  the 
garrison  was,  and  if  Mexican  troops  ever  fought  in 
any  but  their  own  way,  the  defences  could  have 
been  rushed.  The  loss  would  have  been  heavy,  but 
the  city  must  have  fallen.  Mexicans,  however,  are 
not  in  the  habit  of  rushing.  Their  only  method  is  to 
get  behind  something  and  fire  their  rifles,  seldom  with 
any  particular  aim.  Many  I  saw  did  not  raise  them  to 
their  shoulders.  Of  those  who  did  this,  few  looked 
along  the  barrel.  As  I  passed  the  Hospital  during  the 
fight  a  dozen  men  or  so  were  letting  off  their  rifles 
on  the  roof,  a  strange  place  to  choose,  but  typically 
Mexican.  I  could  not  see  one  of  them  aiming.  They 
shot  into  the  air.  The  same  thing  was  noticed  by  many 
others.  I  am  speaking  now  of  the  Federals;  the 
Insurrectos'  fire  was  rather  more  careful.  I  saw 
twenty  or  thirty  shots  fired  from  a  distance  of  eighty 
yards  or  so  at  an  old  Carranzista  who  had  somehow 
got  into  the  city  and  was  riding,  gloriously  drunk,  down 
a  main  thoroughfare.  Not  one  of  them  hit  him.  He 
turned  into  a  side  street,  where  two  officers  rode  up  and 
killed  him  with  their  revolvers. 

During  two  days  rifle  fire  was  kept  up  with  few 
intervals.  An  enormous  amount  of  ammunition  must 
have  been  used.  Yet  only  a  few  hundred  men  in  all 
were  hit.  That  also  is  typical  of  Mexican  battles. 
If  either  side  could  induce  its  soldiers  to  use  the  bayonet 
or  were  enterprising  enough  to  train  a  few  regiments 


48  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

of  Lancers,  and  if,  further,  they  could  break  themselves 
of  the  habit  of  sitting  down  after  victories  instead  of 
following  them  up,  the  civil  war  could  soon  be  decided. 
But  there  is  little  hope  of  that. 

After  a  while  I  went  back  into  the  city  to  see  what 
the  outbreak  of  firing  in  a  new  direction  might  mean. 
As  soon  as  I  got  near  the  centre  I  was  invited  to  go  to 
the  house  where  I  was  living,  and  to  stay  there.  The 
enemy  were  in  the  city  now  and  not  far  off  its  heart. 
"We  may  be  shooting  along  your  street  at  any  moment," 
it  was  explained  with  Mexican  politeness.  My  petition 
to  be  allowed  to  see  all  I  could  because  I  was  a  news- 
paper correspondent  was  firmly  denied. 

So  for  a  while  the  population  were  prisoners.  The 
sunny,  empty  streets  had  a  Sunday  look  about  them. 
Not  a  foot  fell.  Now  and  again  anxious  faces  would 
peep  out  of  partly-opened  doors,  and  groups  of  scared 
women  would  venture  to  the  barred  windows  on  the 
level  of  the  street.  Except  for  a  handful  of  soldiers 
here  and  there  the  upper  city  was  as  a  city  of  the  dead. 
The  mountains  dreaming  in  the  haze  of  noon  looked 
down  upon  the  native  inhabitants,  mostly  shaking 
with  terror,  sitting  in  darkened  rooms  and  trying  to 
stop  their  ears  against  the  perpetual  din  of  war. 

In  the  foreign  houses  away  from  the  quarters  where 
the  combatants  came  near  together,  it  was  different. 
Much  bridge  was  played  to  while  away  the  tedious 
hours.  In  cool,  flowery  patios  men  and  women 
chatted  and  laughed,  with  children  playing  round 
them,  as  if  there  were  no  danger  at  all.  When  a  bullet 
rattled  on  the  stones  of  our  open-air  courtyard  there 
was  a  rush  to  secure  it  as  a  trophy.  During  "Ifle 
afternoon  my  host  was  lying  down  when  a  bullet 


BOMBARDED  IN  MONTERREY     49 

drilled  through  the  woodwork  of  the  door  frame  and 
struck  the  wall  a  few  feet  above  his  head.  Uncon- 
cernedly he  called  to  us  to  look  at  the  hole  it  had  made 
and  the  litter  of  plaster  on  his  bed.  At  times  the 
spatter  of  lead  against  the  house  wall  would  arouse 
languid  comment,  or  the  sudden  discharge  of  rifles 
close  at  hand  would  provoke  a  feminine  "  Oh  !  " 
But  for  the  most  part  the  change  from  ordinary  life 
to  this  state  of  suspended  animation  was  accepted 
with  humorous  resignation  by  women  as  well  as  men. 

One  Irish  lady,  a  Mrs.  Peart  (all  honour  to  her), 
defied  regulations  and  risked  her  life  by  walking  down 
through  both  Federal  and  Constitutionalist  lines  to  the 
house  of  the  British  Vice-Consul,  Mr.  Sanford,  which 
was  in  the  thick  of  the  fight.  She  found  the  inhabit- 
ants living  in  the  cellar,  and  carried  a  note  to  the 
American  Consul-General  asking  him  to  send  a  carriage 
to  take  the  women  and  children  away.  But  it  was  she 
herself  who  next  morning  rescued  them  in  a  Red  Cross 
automobile.  Another  Irishwoman,  a  Mrs.  Flannery, 
who  with  her  sister  kept  a  hotel,  saved  it  from  destruc- 
tion by  going  out  on  the  steps  and  haranguing  a  mob 
of  drunken  soldiers. 

A  good  deal  of  looting  was  done,  and  each  night  the 
sky  was  reddened  by  wantonly  destructive  fires.  These 
were  not  all  the  work  of  the  attacking  force.  One 
large  house  belonging  to  a  Carranzista  sympathizer 
was  deliberately  burnt  by  the  Federals,  and  I  myself 
saw  Federal  soldiers  coming  out  of  another  house 
owned  by  a  suspect  with  their  arms  full  of  loot.  After 
the  first  few  hours  it  was  possible  to  get  out,  so  long 
as  one  did  not  go  too  near  the  centre  of  the  city.  Of 
course  one  had  to  take  chances,  When  a  friend  and  I 
E 


50  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

came  back  from  a  reconnoitring  stroll  we  were  greeted 
by  the  news  that  a  harmless  non-combatant  walking 
along  our  street  had  been  shot  through  the  stomach. 
But  by  listening  for  the  direction  of  fire  and  keeping 
close  to  the  wall  one  could  be  fairly  safe.  The  greatest 
risk  was  not  from  the  fire  of  the  troops,  but  from  the 
bullets  of  cowardly  "  snipers  "  at  windows  or  on  house- 
tops. There  was  so  much  of  this  contemptible  treachery 
that  an  order  was  issued  for  the  immediate  execution 
of  anybody  seen  on  a  roof.  This  was  one  of  General 
Iberri's  measures;  to  him  was  due  the  saving  of  the 
city.  He  held  out  obstinately  until  the  reinforcements 
arrived. 

About  three  o'clock  on  the  second  afternoon  a  new 
bugle  note  brought  even  the  timid  to  their  doors. 
Towards  the  end  of  a  long  street  a  cloud  of  dust  an- 
nounced a  column  on  the  march.  In  they  came,  fresh 
and  cheery,  for  they  had  detrained  only  a  few  miles 
away.  Instantly  the  pavement  was  lined  by  men  and 
boys.  Girls  ran  out,  filled  with  sudden  courage,  and 
gave  the  officers  bunches  of  flowers.  Food  and 
cigarettes  were  pressed  upon  the  men,  who  responded 
to  the  grateful  cheers  of  the  inhabitants  by  loud 
'  Vivas !  "  for  Mexico,  General  Huerta,  and  "  El 
Supremo  Gobierno  "  (the  Government).  The  mood  of 
the  city  veered  instantly  round  from  depression  to  joy. 

Specially  heartening  was  the^sight  of  the  cavalry, 
most  of  them  members  of  tjiat  fine  old  force,  the 
Rurales,  instituted  by  President  Diaz  to  be  what  the 
Royal  North-West  Mounted  Police  are  in  Canada. 
They  had  the  look  of  seasoned  troops.  Their  brown 
Indian  faces  were  resolute  and  grim.  While  the 
infantry  went  at  once  into  action,  they  were  kept 


BOMBARDED  IN  MONTERREY     51 

back  until  the  enemy  had  been  dislodged  from  their 
positions.  Then,  under  cover  of  a  tremendous  fire, 
they  were  sent  off  to  complete  the  rout.  For  the  time 
being  at  any  rate  Monterrey  was  saved. 

But  it  was  not  the  same  Monterrey  as  that  which 
we  entered  three  days  before.  A  cloud  of  gloom  and 
apprehension  brooded  over  the  city.  High  in  the 
sunny  blue  sky  I  saw  obscene  buzzards  float,  attracted 
by  the  dead  men  and  horses  lying  stiff  and  hideous  in 
the  dusty  streets.  From  numbers  of  the  poles  which 
carry  telegraph  and  telephone  wires  dangled  limp 
corpses  of  Carranzistas,  hung  there  as  a  stern  warning 
to  the  disloyal.  The  lower  part  of  the  city,  where  the 
battle  raged,  was  a  scene  of  piteous  desolation.  Here 
the  dead  were  scattered  all  about,  and  almost  every 
house  had  the  mark  of  fire  upon  it. 

Blackened  shells  of  stores  and  residences  stood 
gaunt  in  the  sunlight.  Others  which  had  escaped 
destruction  had  been  rifled,  or  damaged  by  shells. 
One  American  had  his  dining-room  wrecked;  another 
showed  me  a  bedroom  in  ruins.  I  went  with  a  party 
from  the  United  States  Consulate  to  see  how  the 
Americans  living  in  the  zone  of  greatest  danger  had 
fared.  White-faced  women  told  us  how  during  forty- 
eight  hours  they  had  trembled  for  their  children's 
lives.  Some  begged  to  be  taken  into  the  Consulate  in 
case  the  attack  should  be  resumed.  Some  implored 
the  Consul  to  ask  the  authorities  for  a  refugee  train  to 
Tampico  as  soon  as  possible. 

For  some  days  no  business  was  done.  Only  the 
provision  shops  re-opened,  and  not  nearly  all  of  them. 
There  was  no  fresh  meat  in  the  place,  and  no  vegetables. 
The  city  was  under  martial  law.  Every  one  out  after 


52  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

dark  was  challenged  and  obliged  to  give  an  account 
of  himself.  And  all  this  happened  in  one  of  the 
wealthiest  and  most  progressive  cities  of  the  Republic — 
in  a  place  which,  owing  to  its  large  foreign  colony, 
was  supposed  to  be  immune  from  attack. 


VI 

AFTER  THE  ATTACK 

HERE  is  a  letter  which  I  wrote  from  Monterrey  on 
October  31  : 

A  week  has  passed  since  the  battle  here.  Gradually 
the  city  has  recovered  from  those  two  days  of  shot 
and  shell.  Women  are  still  pale  and  nervous.  Men 
still  walk  close  to  the  houses  as  they  go  through  the 
streets.  The  tale  of  damage  has  mounted  up  to  a 
million  pounds  sterling,  which  does  not  include  the 
losses  caused  by  the  paralysing  of  business  life  and  by 
that  feeling  of  doubt  and  danger  which  is  so  unhealthy 
for  trade.  The  National  Railways  alone  have  suffered 
to  the  extent  of  some  £200,000.  Sixteen  engines  and 
several  hundred  freight  cars  were  set  on  fire.  Many  of 
the  cars  were  filled  with  valuable  freight.  Coal  and 
maize  in  vast  quantities  are  still  smouldering  their 
value  away. 

The  city  is  full  of  troops  now.  They  are  camped  in 
public  buildings,  theatres,  empty  private  houses,  any- 
where. If  there  had  been  a  larger  garrison  a  week  ago 
the  attack  might  never  have  be_en  made.  In  spite  of 
this  belated  display  of  force  there  are  still  no  passenger 
or  freight  trains  running,  neither  on  the  direct  line 
north  and  south,  nor  to  Tampico.  Monterrey  depends 
for  most  of  its  foodstuffs  and  other  necessaries  upon 
supplies  from  outside.  These  are  all  cut  off.  Coal  has 
run  short,  even  for  running  military  and  repair  trains 

53 


54  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

on  such  portions  of  the  line  as  remain  unbroken.  Last 
night  the  Federal  authorities  seized  without  warning 
120  tons  of  gas  coal  belonging  to  the  Light  and  Power 
Company.  In  a  day  or  two  the  city  will  be  without  gas. 
Up  to  yesterday  the  four  of  us  who  drove  across 
country  were  the  only  people  who  had  arrived  here 
from  Laredo  since  the  line  was  cut  three  weeks  ago. 
Last  night  came  the  Rev.  Edmund  Neville,  rector  of 
the  Anglican  Church  in  Mexico  City.  He  was  less 
lucky  than  we  were,  for  he  joined  two  Federal  generals 
and  took  nine  days  over  a  journey  of  150  miles. 
During  that  time  he  never  took  his  clothes  off;  slept 
three  nights  in  the  open  on  the  ground  with  his  Prayer- 
book  for  pillow  and  only  a  cassock  to  protect  him  from 
the  cold;  and  had  very  little  to  eat.  He  was  most 
anxious  to  get  back  to  his  congregation  in  the  capital, 
so  he  did  not  care  how  he  made  the  journey.  But 
he  had  no  idea  how  hard  it  would  be.  To  add  to  his 
misfortunes,  a  wagon  turned  over  as  he  was  crossing 
a  river,  and  he  was  thrown  into  the  water.  Even 
then  he  managed  to  cling  to  the  hat-box  containing 
his  tall  hat;  but  a  "  Lincoln  and  Bennett  "  is  poor 
protection  against  cold  nights.1 

We  have  the  telegraph  line  open  now  to  the  capital, 
and  a  message  comes  through  reporting  that  General 
Huerta  has  once  more  assured  the  Diplomatic  Corps 
there  that  the  revolution  will  soon  be  over.  Fgr  the 

1  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  Mr.  Neville  died  a  few  days  after- 
wards from  the  effects  of  exppsure  and  privation.  He  was 
well  enough  to  travel  with  me  to  Saltillo,  and  busied  himself 
there  with  preparations  for  a  service.  He  held  it  on  Sunday 
afternoon,  November  2,  All  Souls'  Day.  Twenty-four  hours 
later  he  lay  dead.  His  loss  was  sincerely  mourned  in  Mexico 
City,  where  his  energetic,  cheerful  temperament  had  made 
every  one  his  friend  who  knew  him,  and  both  widened  and 
deepened  the  influence  of  his  Church. 


AFTER  THE   ATTACK  55 

sake  of  the  country,  and  especially  for  the  sake  of  the 
many  thousands  of  foreigners  either  living  or  possessing 
interests  here,  that  is  a  consummation  devoutly  to  be 
wished.  The  mass  of  Mexicans  seem  to  accept  civil 
war  as  a  perfectly  natural  condition.  They  would 
not  worry  if  it  went  on  for  ever ;  they  take  to  fighting 
as  ducks  take  to  water.  In  the  rebel  forces  I  have 
come  across  officers  who  have  been  engaged  in  all 
kinds  of  civil  and  even  professional  employment- 
engineers,  doctors,  lawyers,  wholesale  dealers,  retail 
traders,  clerks,  book-keepers,  accountants,  managers 
of  factories.  Nobody  sees  anything  incongruous  in 
their  exchange  of  occupation. 

Civil  war  is  looked  upon,  not  as  a  disaster  and  a 
crime,  but  as  an  ordinary  incident  in  the  life  of  the 
nation.  That  is  what  makes  so  many  despair  of 
Mexico's  being  able  to  overcome  her  troubles  by  her 
own  unaided  efforts.  Here  is  a  people  of  whom  five- 
sixths  have  no  conception  of  any  form  of  government 
except  personal  government  by  force.  Even  those 
who  talk  about  the  blessings  of  freedom,  who  profess 
and  call  themselves  ardent  Democrats  are  for  killing 
all  who  disagree  with  them.  I  was  speaking  in  a  rebel 
camp  with  a  distinguished  Insurrecto,  a  man  who  was 
formerly  Governor  of  his  State.  He  has  agreeable 
manners,  and  is  to  all  appearances  a  "  modern  " — 
that  is  to  say,  one  who  sees  life  from  the  angle  at 
which  it  is  viewed  in  countries  where  civilization  is 
farthest  advanced.  He  believes  that  the  democratic 
idea  is  making  progress  in  Mexico,  and  he  told  me 
why  he  believes  so — because  a  new  kind  of  dynamite 
bomb  has  been  invented  which  enables  the  Constitu- 
tionalists to  blow  up  railways  more  easily  and  in 
greater  numbers. 


56  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

'Think  of  it,"  he  said  gleefully;  "seven  trains 
destroyed  in  two  weeks."  The  operation  of  the 
ballot-box  is  far  too  tame  and  tedious  for  enthusiasts 
like  that. 

It  might  be  thought  that  a  people  which  after  thirty 
years  of  peace  rushes  headlong  into  civil  war  must  be 
profoundly  patriotic,  deeply  attached  either  to  its 
present  institutions  or  to  the  cause  of  reform.  In 
truth  very  few  Mexicans  care  for  the  one  or  the  other. 
For  each  "  jefe  "  among  the  Insurrectos  who  believes 
that  he  is  fighting  for  a  cause  there  must  be  twenty 
who  are  simply  "  on  the  make." 

As  for  the  rank  and  file,  few  of  them  trouble  their 
heads  about  the  motives  of  the  war.  They  are  fighting 
because  it  pays  them  better  to  fight  than  to  work,  or 
because  they  have  been  pressed  into  the  Army  on 
one  side  or  the  other.  Thousands  of  criminals  have 
been  turned  out  of  the  gaols  and  forced  into  uniforms. 
Tens  of  thousands  of  pelados  (peasants  or  labourers, 
literally,  "  the  skinned  ones ")  prefer  the  roving, 
loafing  life  of  a  Mexican  soldier  with  pay  ranging  from 
2s.  lod.  to  45.  a  day  to  slaving  for  a  few  shillings  a 
week  in  the  fields.  If  they  do  not  get  their  pay 
regularly  they  can  look  forward  to  opportunities  of 
plunder. 

At  certain  times  and  in  certain  places  both  sides 
punish  looting.  A  number  of  thieves  have  been  shot 
here  by  the  Federals  in  these  last  few  days,  and  also, 
if  report  says  true,  a  good  many  innocent  poor  folk 
as  well.  A  servant  in  the  house  of  a  friend  of  mine 
tells  me  that  he  would  be  afraid  to  wear  new  shoes 
or  anything  new,  or  to  make  any  purchase  just  now. 
"  Every  one  is  suspected,"  he  says,  "  and  there  is  no 


AFTER   THE   ATTACK  57 

fair  trial.  Under  Porfirio  Diaz  we  lived  in  security. 
Now  ..."  He  finished  with  an  eloquent  shrug. 

Many  officers  of  the  Constitutionalist  Army  also 
draw  the  reins  of  discipline  tight  in  this  respect.  But 
all  the  same  looting  and  "  commandeering,"  which  is 
little  better,  go  on,  and  the  former  often  has  to 
be  winked  at.  In  one  case  a  town  was  actually 
divided  into  seven  districts  for  systematic  sacking. 
The  greediest  plunderers  are  usually  non-combatants. 
The  lower  orders  never  miss  an  opportunity  of  looting 
or  paying  off  old  scores.  A  hacendado  who  employs 
a  large  number  of  labourers  told  me  that  he  had 
difficulty  in  getting  anything  done  while  an  attack 
was  being  made  upon  a  town  near  by.  His  men  said 
that  they  were  "  waiting  to  go  into  the  city  "  as  soon 
as  it  fell. 

That  is  one  reason  why  the  revolution  is  not  un- 
popular. It  gives  many  chances  of  picking  up  unearned 
gains.  Further,  the  rebels  make  a  regular  practice  of 
accepting  bribes  not  to  injure  property.  A  number 
of  people  in  Monterrey,  both  Mexicans  and  foreigners, 
paid  the  attacking  force  for  the  safety  of  their  buildings 
and  their  goods.  Some  of  them  frankly  told  me  so. 
Even  when  the  leaders  order  property  to  be  respected, 
they  hold  themselves  free  to  take  whatever  they 
themselves  require.  Thus,  General  Jesus  Carranza 
last  week  gave  to  a  British  farm  near  Monterrey  a 
certificate  of  protection.  But  he  sent  up  to  the 
manager  that  same  evening  a  demand  for  ten  mules 
to  drag  guns  which  he  had  captured. 

Horses  and  mules  the  Insurrectos  take  wherever 
they  find  them.  They  must  have  these;  they  pos- 
sess no  other  means  of  transport.  Their  object  in 


58  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

destroying  railway  bridges  and  tearing  up  lines  is  to 
prevent  the  Federals  from  sending  troops  by  train. 
They  have  offered  to  leave  the  railways  alone  if  the 
Government  would  agree  not  to  use  them  for  military 
purposes.  Often  they  do  allow  a  service  to  run  un- 
interrupted for  some  time.  As  soon  as  a  train  of 
soldiers  is  sent  over  the  line,  it  is  cut.  "  Let  the 
Huertistas  meet  us  on  equal  terms,"  the  Constitution- 
alists say;  "  let  them  move  as  we  do,  on  horseback. 
Then  the  trains  shall  run  unhindered." 

They  assert  also  that  they  always  challenge  the 
garrisons  of  towns  to  fight  in  the  open,  so  that  the 
towns  need  not  suffer.  I  know  several  instances  in 
which  they  have  done  this.  The  Federal  reply  is, 
"  If  we  did  so,  you  would  trick  us  by  sending  a  force 
to  sneak  in  behind  as  soon  as  we  moved  out."  Which 
might  indeed  very  likely  happen.  But  at  the  same 
time  it  would  be  hard  for  the  Federals  to  get  their 
troops,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  picked  regiments, 
to  fight  in  the  open.  One  general  was  extolled  to  me 
as  'a  great  man.  I  asked  what  sign  of  greatness  he 
had  shown.  "  Why,"  I  was  told  ingenuously,  "  when 
he  found  himself  outnumbered,  he  did  not  run  away." 

General  Pancho  Villa,  the  most  daring  and  skilful 
of  the  Insurrecto  leaders,  has  hit  upon  the  only  plan 
by  which  Mexicans  can  be  induced  to  make  active 
frontal  attacks  upon  the  enemy's  position.  He  places 
in  the  rear  of  his  force  a  body  of  men  whom  he  can 
trust.  They  have  orders  to  shoot  any  man  who 
tries  to  turn  back.  Realizing  that  they  had  better 
take  their  chance  of  being  killed  by  the  enemy  than 
be  certainly  shot  by  their  own  side,  the  soldiers  rush 
desperately  on,  and  their  general's  tactics  often  succeed. 


AFTER  THE   ATTACK  59 

The  same  leader,  whenever  he  enters  a  town,  puts 
guards  over  the  drinking  shops.  Thus  he  is  able  to 
prevent  unauthorized  looting  or  destruction  of  pro- 
perty. Then  his  requests  for  money  are  presented. 
From  Torreon,  which  is  a  rich  place  in  the  heart  of  a 
cotton  country,  with  many  banks  and  business  houses, 
he  demanded  £300,000.  The  Monterrey  banks  took 
the  precaution  of  sending  their  securities  and  most  of 
their  cash  balances  to  Tampico.  At  one  of  them  I 
tried  to  change  American  "  bills  "  for  Mexican.  The 
banker  said  that  he  did  not  want  American  money. 
He  would  either  have  to  keep  it,  which  was  not  very 
safe,  or  to  post  it  to  the  United  States,  which  would 
be  more  risky  still. 

Signs  like  that  show  how  little  confident  feeling 
there  is  that  the  Government  can  put  down  the 
Insurrectos.  It  is  handicapped  in  so  many  ways. 
The  sale  of  ammunition  by  Federal  soldiers  to  agents 
of  the  enemy  is  a  regular  traffic.  Many  officers,  even 
generals,  are  accused  of  "  grafting  "  little  more  credit- 
able. One  is  universally  believed  to  be  supplying 
his  men  with  beer  and  tobacco  at  a  very  handsome 
profit.  Of  course  such  charges  must  not  be  readily 
believed,  though  the  absence  of  a  Commissariat 
Department,  which  throws  upon  officers  the  victualling 
of  their  commands,  gives  great  opportunities  for  fraud. 

A  very  high  personage  told  me  that  he  knew  of  one 
Army  contractor  who  has  supplied  £200,000  worth  of 
goods,  and  who  always  makes  out  two  bills,  one  for 
the  sum  which  he  is  to  receive,  the  other  for  a  much 
larger  amount.  The  latter  is  officially  receipted;  the 
difference  goes  into  somebody's  pocket.  That  sort  of 
thing,  said  my  informant,  is  going  on  all  the  time. 


60  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

Then,  again,  active  generals,  like  Pena,  a  dashing 
cavalry  leader  and  the  finest  all-round  soldier  in  the 
Mexican  Army,  are  often  not  allowed  to  act  upon 
their  own  initiative.  Orders  for  movements  of  troops 
are  supposed  to  come  from  Mexico  City,  and,  further, 
local  commanders,  jealous  of  each  other,  squabble 
among  themselves. 

Other  generals  are  notoriously  incapable  and  yet 
retain  their  commands.  The  absence  of  organizing 
capacity  is  noticeable  on  all  sides.  Even  officers 
reputed  to  be  men  of  capacity  do  things  in  a  haphazard, 
get-there-or-stick  style  which  seems  to  us  like  courting 
disaster.  General  Teellez,  for  instance,  knowing  Mon- 
terrey to  be  in  danger,  started  from  Nuevo  Laredo 
for  this  city  on  October  21.  The  distance  is  150  miles. 
He  took  nine  days  to  cover  it,  travelling  partly  by 
rail,  partly  across  country. 

There  was  no  proper  transport,  no  commissariat. 
He  and  his  staff  slept  several  nights  on  the  ground. 
After  the  first  day,  when  they  fared  sumptuously  in 
their  train,  they  lived  on  biscuits,  sardines,  beans,  and 
weak  coffee  made  with  any  water  that  could  be  found. 
General  Teellez  is  the  officer  commanding  this  district. 
With  him  was  General  Maas,  nephew  of  General 
Huerta,  victor  at  Piedras  Negras,  and  the  newly- 
appointed  Governor  of  the  State  of  Coahuila.  It  is 
impossible  to  imagine  two  European  generals  travelling 
in  such  conditions,  either  so  slowly  or  in  such  disarray. 

Furthermore,  the  present  regime  has  to  be  on  the 
watch  against  plots  other  than  those  of  its  avowed 
enemies,  such  as  the  conspiracy  of  General  Felix  Diaz 
and  General  Mondragon,  the  men  who  conspired  also 
against  Madero.  All  these  elements  of  weakness,  in 


AFTER  THE  ATTACK  61 

addition  to  the  perpetual  need  of  money,  make  General 
Huerta's  task  a  very  hard  one. 

Yet  in  the  triumph  of  a  stable  Government  lies  the 
only  hope  of  any  prolonged  peace.  I  have  received 
much  kindness  from  the  Constitutionalist  leaders. 
For  many  of  them  I  feel  sympathy  as  well  as  respect. 
But  I  cannot  see  how  their  victory  would  give  the 
country  rest  from  disorder.  They  have  no  clear  idea 
as  to  what  they  would  do  if  they  came  into  power. 
They  have  not  even  decided  whom  they  would  "  run 
for  President,"  in  the  American  phrase.  There  would 
be  an  outbreak  of  feverish  plotting  for  that  position, 
and  for  others,  unless  they  settled  beforehand  upon 
some  man  whom  all  would  agree  to  serve. 

At  the  same  time  all  whom  they  have  made  objects 
of  attack  would  be  waiting  for  the  chance  to  destroy 
them.  In  a  poster  on  a  wall  in  Sonora  I  read  bitter 
denunciation  of  "  los  malditos  cientificos,  los  malvados 
clericales,  y  los  corrompidos  militares  "  (the  accursed 
cientificos,  the  wicked  clergy,  the  corrupt  soldiers). 
No  doubt  the  "  cientificos "  (a  nickname  for  the 
Ministers  who  made  Porfirio  Diaz  unpopular)  were  a 
curse  to  the  country.  Though  they  did  much  to 
enrich  it  by  encouraging  foreign  capital,  and  much  to 
beautify  the  capital,  they  were  the  immediate  cause 
of  the  first  civil  war.  No  doubt  there  are  sinners 
among  the  priests.  Certainly  there  is  much  talk,  as 
I  have  pointed  out,  of  "  grafting  "  officers.  But  to 
rule  in  spite  of  politicians,  Church,  and  Army  would 
be  hard  in  any  country.  In  Mexico  it  is  impossible. 
The  standard  of  defiance  would  quickly  be  unfurled 
again.  Revolution  would  succeed  revolution,  each 
one  bleeding  the  land  more  white. 


62  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

One  looks  in  imagination  along  a  vista  of  endless 
short  triumphs  and  long-drawn-out  disorders.  That 
can  only  be  prevented  by  a  strong  and  just  Govern- 
ment. If  Mexico  fails  to  evolve  such  a  Government, 
it  cannot  hope  to  settle  its  own  troubles.  They  will 
have  to  be  dealt  with  by  some  other  hand. 


VII 

THE    PITY   OF   IT  ! 

As  I  walked  the  streets  of  Monterrey  and  saw  the 
dead  lie  stark  and  pitiful  after  the  fight,  the  same 
thought  came  to  me  which  had  been  provoked  in 
rebel  camps,  among  men  of  refinement  and  education 
who  have  given  up  their  usual  occupations  for  the 
savage  joy  of  civil  war  :  "  What  a  waste  !  What  a 
meaningless  folly  !  " 

To  give  one's  life  for  one's  country  in  a  good  cause, 
is  the  best  end  that  can  befall. 

"  For  how  can  man  die  better 
Than  facing  fearful  odds, 
For  the  ashes  of  his  fathers 
And  the  temples  of  his  gods  ?  " 

Wars  there  will  be  so  long  as  there  are  wrongs,  real 
or  imaginary,  to  be  righted;  so  long  as  some  people 
have  what  other  people  want.  Also,  while  men  have 
red  blood  in  them,  enough  will  be  found  ready  to  die 
in  war,  and  the  world  will  rightly  honour  them,  saying 
they  died  well.  But  this  civil  war  in  Mexico  is  so 
futile.  There  are  no  principles  at  stake,  no  national 
objects  to  fight  for.  No  cause  can  be  advanced,  no 
problem  finally  settled  by  the  victory  of  either  side. 

It  is  true  that  the  Constitutionalist  leaders  say  that 
they  are  defending  the  Republican  idea,  the  demo- 

63 


64  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

cratic,  as  opposed  to  the  despotic,  form  of  government. 
But  they  have  no  real  faith  in  democracy.  The 
United  States  officer  in  command  of  the  frontier 
detachment  at  Laredo  was  visited  by  a  deputation  of 
Insurrectos  from  across  the  border.  He  listened  to 
them  politely,  then  he  asked,  "  But  if,  as  you  say, 
you  have  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  people 
with  you,  why  do  not  you  take  part  in  the  Presidential 
election,  return  your  candidate,  and  have  him  recog- 
nized by  the  United  States?  "  They  looked  at  one 
another  doubtfully.  "  Ah,  Senor,"  they  answered, 
"  we  never  thought  of  that." 

Some  of  their  leaders  have  thought  of  it,  but  have 
refused  to  recognize  President  Huerta  in  any  way, 
declaring  his  Government  to  be  unconstitutional. 
They  will  not  even  try  to  defeat  it  by  constitutional 
means.  The  truth  is  that  they  realize,  even  the  most 
Radical  among  them,  that  Mexico  cannot  govern 
herself  as  the  United  Kingdom  and  the  United  States 
do  for  a  very  long  time  to  come.  I  was  talking  to 
a  very  clever,  enthusiastic  young  captain  (by  pro- 
fession an  electrical  engineer)  in  one  of  the  towns 
held  by  the  rebels.  He  had  just  been  telling  me  how 
the  division  of  land  among  the  poor  peasantry  had 
been  begun  in  the  State  of  Tamaulipas.  A  property 
belonging  to  General  Felix  Diaz  was  seized  and  par- 
celled out,  and  a  ceremony  was  held  to  celebrate  the 
occasion.  It  reminded  me  of  similar  incidents  in  the 
French  Revolution. 

Yet  this  young  captain,  when  we  discussed  possible 
candidates  whom  the  Constitutionalists  might  put 
forward  for  the  Presidency,  clenched  his  fist  and 
bringing  it  down  upon  his  knee  said,  "  We  must  have 
an  energetic  man.  That  is  what  Mexico  needs."  An 


THE   PITY   OF   IT!  65 

energetic  man  !  And  that  eloquent  gesture  with  the 
clenched  fist  !  Democracy  was  all  right  in  theory, 
but  he  knew  as  well  as  anybody  that  in  practice  it 
would  not  work. 

Mexico  in  one  respect  resembles  France  before  the 
Revolution.  Almost  all  the  land  is  held  by  rich  men 
who  manage  to  escape  taxes.  Porfirio  Diaz  was  called 
a  strong  man,  yet  he  was  afraid  to  reform  this  abuse. 
He  failed  lamentably  also  in  permitting  the  landowners 
to  practise  criminal  extortion  and  fraud.  The ' '  peons ' ' 
(peasants)  have  in  many  parts  been  deprived  of  their 
holdings,  either  by  being  cheated  out  of  them,  or  by 
being  loaded  with  chains  of  debt.  Here  is  an  example 
of  the  tricks  played  upon  the  unlettered  Indian.  An 
edict  was  issued  that  land  in  certain  parts  must  be 
registered  by  a  certain  date.  Many  Indians  were 
kept  in  ignorance  of  that  order.  Unregistered  land 
was  put  up  for  sale,  and  in  some  cases  bought  at 
ridiculously  low  prices.  Protesting,  but  unable  to 
resist  the  injustice,  the'  wretched  owners  were  dis- 
possessed. Nor  was]  that  all.  After  losing  their 
property,  they  often  became  slaves. 

Thousands  of  peasants  are  in  bondage  to  their  em- 
ployers— the  great  "  Hacendados."  They  are  obliged 
to  buy  at  the  "  Hacienda  "  store.  Credit  is  easy. 
In  time,  the  employers  have  an  account  against 
them  which  they  can  never  hope  to  pay.  Or  else 
they  borrow  in  order  to  be  married.  Church  fees 
are  heavy,  but  the  Mexican  peasant  feels  "  more 
married  "  if  the  knot  is  tied  by  a  priest,  and  the 
women  are  good  Catholics.  Or  it  may  be  that  funds 
are  wanted  for  a  funeral  and  "  wake."  Somehow  or 
other  the  thoughtless  peon  gives  his  employer  a 
hold  over  him.  His  mortgaged  land  is  taken,  and 
F 


66  THE  REAL   MEXICO 

so  long  as  he  owes  money  he  cannot  go  away.  Worse 
still,  the  debt  descends  to  his  children. 

The  condition  of  these  peons  is  practically  that  of 
slaves.  Yet  slavery  is  a  word  which  sounds  worse 
than  the  condition  for  which  it  stands.  There  are 
harsh  "  Hacendados,"  just  as  there  were  some  Simon 
Legrees,  but  as  a  rule  the  peasants  are  decently  treated. 
If  they  were  not,  they  would  not  go  back  at  regular 
intervals  to  their  "  haciendas  "  when  they  are  working 
in  mines.  It  is  said  that  "  if  you  want  to  catch  a 
peon  and  pay  off  a  score,  all  you  need  do  is  to  go 
and  sit  on  his  '  tierra  '  '  (that  is,  the  district  where 
he  was  born).  He  is  certain,  sooner  or  later,  to  go 
back  to  it.  This  love  of  the  land  on  which  they  were 
raised  is  one  of  the  strongest  passions  in  Mexican 
hearts. 

The  Indians  usually  cultivate  their  patches  on  a 
profit-sharing  basis.  •  Half  goes  to  the  owner,  half  to 
them.  Or  else  the  peasant  is  given  a  patch  to  cultivate 
for  himself  while  he  works  on  his  master's  land.  The 
owners  put  under  tillage  only  a  very  small  part  of  their 
enormous  properties,  which  in  some  cases,  as  in  that 
of  the  Terrazas  family  in  Chihuahua,  extend  over 
hundreds  qj:  miles.  The  methods  of  the  peasants  are 
shiftless  and  lazy.  They  only  grow  for  their  immediate 
needs.  I  have  seen  Mexican  cotton  fields  which 
gave  one  bale  of  cotton  for  three  or  four  acres. 
If  the  land  were  kept  clean  and  water  brought  to 
it  from  a  river  near  by,  the  yield  might  be  at  least 
double. 

Most  Mexicans  still  use  the  same  kind  of  plough 
that  Abraham  ploughed  with.  With  such  a  climate 
and  such  a  soil  they  could  grow  anything.  Yet  they 
often-  have  to  import  quantities  of  "  frijoles,"  the 


THE   PITY   OF   IT!  67 

beans  which,  with  maize  "  tortillas/'  form  the  staple 
of  their  diet. 

The  peasant's  wants  are  few.  He  seldom  tastes 
meat.  Coffee  is  his  usual  drink.  A  cigarette  is  often 
preferred  to  food  when  he  is  hungry.  All  that  he 
needs  is  a  few  acres  with  horse,  mule,  or  donkey; 
perhaps  a  pig,  or  a  few  goats.  It  was  by  promising 
these  to  all  that  Madero  won  his  popularity.  It  was 
for  failing  to  redeem  his  rash  promise  that  he  lost  it. 

Land  reform  is,  therefore,  a  necessity  in  Mexico. 
But  it  is  not  advocated  by  the  Constitutionalists  only. 
Men  of  good  will  and  foresight  on  the  other  side  are 
equally  convinced  that  it  must  come.  Even  Sefior 
Limantour,  one  of  the  Ministers  who  brought  about 
the  downfall  of  Porfirio  Diaz,  admitted  that  the  huge 
estates  had  to  be  broken  up,  and  also  that  judicial 
and  municipal  abuses  must  be  swept  away. 

One  of  the  hardships  which  the  poor  are  beginning 
to  resent  is  forced  labour  on  public  works.  In  a 
certain  town  a  new  building  was  required  for  the 
local  archives.  Money  was  voted  for  its  erection, 
but  the  money  was  not  all  devoted  to  that  purpose. 
"  Peon  "  labourers  were  arrested  upon  some  trifling  or 
trumped-up  charge  and  compelled  to  dig  the  founda- 
tions. Bricklayers  and  masons  were  obliged  to  build 
it.  Carpenters  were  pressed  into  service  for  the  work 
inside.  This  system,  similar  to  the  corvee  in  Egypt 
before  British  rule,  was  possible  only  so  long  as  the 
"  peons  "  knew  nothing  about  other  countries.  When 
they  heard  that  in  the  United  States  a  Mexican  with 
a  trade  could  earn  (instead  of  iSd.)  8s.  or  los.  a  day, 
while  even  labourers  were  paid  55.  or  6s.,  they  grew 
discontented. 

They  saw  their  brothers  and  friends  return  from 


68  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

the  United  States  wearing  shoes  and  good  suits  of 
clothes.  From  the  country  near  the  border,  where 
the  revolution  is  strongest,  large  numbers  went  across 
and  became  familiar  with  American  ideas.  They 
would  no  longer  submit  to  being  treated  as  they  were 
before.  The  rich  had  been  hard  upon  them ;  now  their 
turn  was  coming.  The  spirit  of  revenge,  of  conflict 
between  "  the  barefoot  and  the  shod,"  was  nursed 
by  the  new  middle-class,  consisting  largely  of  artisans 
who  had  taken  advantage  of  President  Diaz's  schemes. 
Thus  the  soil  was  prepared  for  the  seed  which  Madero 
dropped  upon  it.  There  were  many  accounts  to  be 
settled  up ;  such  as  that  of  the  man  in  the  rebel  ranks 
who  told  me  that  he  took  up  arms  because  some 
agent  of  General  Terrazas  callously  ran  cattle  over 
his  little  farm  and  ruined  the  labour  of  years. 

There  are  other  abuses  which  make  reform  necessary ; 
such  as  the  keeping  of  accused  persons  in  prison  for 
months,  and  sometimes  years,  before  they  are  tried; 
the  unequal  incidence  of  taxation ;  the  greed  of  corrupt 
officials.  But,  as  I  have  said,  all  Mexicans  who  think 
are  agreed  that  reforms  must  come — after  peace  has 
been  restored. 

The  way  to  hasten  reform  is  to  make  gradually 
increasing  use  of  the  political  means  which  exist. 
Fighting  does  not  bring  it  any  nearer.  The  Consti- 
tutionalists say  that  the  former  course  is  useless,  for 
the  reason  that  the  results  of  the  elections  are  always 
decided  by  the  President  in  power.  Up  to  the  present 
they  have  been.  It  is  said  that  no  President  has 
ever  been  legally  elected.  The  most  laughable  means 
are  adopted  to  "  cook  "  the  result.  In  Mexico  City 
a  "  mozo  "  of  a  friend  of  mine  went  into  a  polling-place 
to  vote  for  Felix  Diaz. 


THE   PITY   OF   IT!  69 

"  We  are  sorry,"  said  the  officials  in  charge  politely; 
"  this  is  not  one  of  Felix  Diaz's  places,  you  cannot 
vote  for  him  here." 

"Where  can  I  find  one?  " 

"  We  are  sorry  :  we  cannot  tell  you." 

"  For  whom  can  I  vote  here?  " 

"  For  Huerta  and  Blanquet." 

It  sounds  like  an  invention,  but  such  incidents  are 
common  enough  in  Mexico. 

Here  is  another  anomaly.  The  Constitution  requires 
the  successful  candidate  to  receive  a  certain  proportion 
of  possible  votes.  Nothing  like  this  proportion  has 
ever  been  polled.  Madero  himself  only  received  some 
20,000  from  an  electorate  running  into  millions.  In 
the  October  Presidential  Election  only  7,157  electoral 
stations  sent  in  returns,  out  of  14,425. 

But  illegalities  are  only  tolerated  because  there  is 
no  public  opinion  in  Mexico.  The  mass  of  the  people 
think  of  the  Government  as  a  power  above  them,  out- 
side their  ken ;  a  power  with  which  they  have  nothing 
to  do.  Even  the  educated  prefer  to  be  lookers-on. 
They  criticize  severely,  but  they  will  take  no  part  in 
handling  the  problems  of  government. 

I  had  some  interesting  talk  with  a  very  intelligent 
young  Mexican  of  good  family.  He  was  at  Harvard 
University  and  might  pass  for  an  American,  whether 
judged  by  his  appearance  or  by  his  ideas.  He  is  well 
off,  but  has  taken  up  a  profession  to  keep  him  occupied. 

"  You  ought  to  be  in  politics,"  I  said ;  "  your  country 
needs  men  like  you." 

"  Some  day,"  he  replied  vaguely. 

It  is  this  refusal  of  responsibility  by  the  better 
class  of  Mexicans  which  makes  revolution  appear  to 
be  the  natural  and  only  method  of  political  protest. 


70  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

"  Educate,  educate,  educate,"  should  be  the  Constitu- 
tionalists' motto.  It  will  take  generations  to  bring 
Mexico  up  to  the  level  of  France,  England,  or  the 
United  States.  Hasty  measures  of  reform  are  doomed 
to  failure.  The  only  way  to  get  rid  of  abuses  is  for  all 
the  better  class  in  the  country  to  work  together,  and, 
little  by  little,  alter  a  system  which  has  fallen  behind 
the  country's  needs. 

All  that  civil  war  has  done  is  to  make  the  country 
poorer,  both  by  raising  prices  and  by  diminishing  the 
demand  for  labour  by  reason  of  the  many  industries 
which  are  shut  down.  Concepcion  del  Oro  may  serve 
as  an  example  of  numberless  other  cases.  The  closing 
of  the  mines  has  brought  a  well-to-do  settlement  to 
the  verge  of  starvation.  The  people  have  literally 
not  enough  to  eat.  In  most  parts  of  the  Republic 
the  pinch  of  war  is  felt  by  everybody.  The  shops 
have  been  compelled  to  raise  their  prices,  and  the  50 
per  cent,  increase  in  import  duties  makes  living  twice 
as  dear  as  it  used  to  be.  But  the  Radical-Socialist- 
Constitutionalist  reformer  does  not  stop  to  think  the 
situation  out.  He  claims  that  he  and  his  party  are 
the  children  of  light  :  yet  their  one  impulse  is  to  follow 
the  bad,  old  backward  barbarism  of  civil  war.  Their 
sounding  phrases  neither  influence  their  conduct  nor 
apply  with  any  truth  to  the  actual  situation. 

I  have  compared  one  aspect  of  Mexico  to-day  with 
that  of  eighteenth-century  France.  From  another 
point  of  view,  the  country  is  in  much  the  same  stage 
of  development  as  Russia  at  the  present  time.  In 
each  there  is  (i)  an  absolute  government ;  (2)  a  popu- 
lation unfit  as  yet  for  anything  but  absolutism.  Unfit 
in  Mexico,  not  only  because  the  vast  majority  are 
illiterate,  but  also  because  even  the  educated  who  take 


THE   PITY   OF   IT!  71 

part  in  politics  regard  politics  as  a  means  to  get  some- 
thing for  themselves.  Then  there  is  a  small  class 
drunk  with  the  heady  wine  of  progress  which  fancies 
that  the  work  of  centuries  can  be  accomplished  in  a 
few  years.  Francisco  Madero  was  of  this  fanatical 
idealist  type,  and  like  all  fanatics  he  drew  around 
him  ardent  disciples.  His  memory  is  honoured  by 
numbers  of  the  younger  Constitutionalist  leaders  as 
that  of  a  saint  and  martyr.  They  wear  his  picture 
over  their  hearts.  They  speak  of  him  with  reverent 
affection,  though  some  of  them  admit  that,  as  President, 
he  was  woefully  disappointing. 

Like  most  demagogues,  he  lacked  capacity  either 
for  business  or  politics.  He  could  neither  administer 
the  country's  affairs,  nor  could  he  keep  the  people 
quiet  by  showing  them  that  he  meant  to  redeem  his 
election  pledges.  He  had  no  idea  how  to  begin. 

Personally  an  honest  man,  with  no  need  or  inclina- 
tion to  be  otherwise,  he  allowed  his  brothers  and  other 
relations  to  plunder  as  they  pleased.  Crowds  of  them 
swooped  down  upon  public  offices.  His  own  sup- 
porters were  disgusted  by  his  nepotism  and  weakness. 
The  feeling  of  those  who  had  cheered  him  turned  to 
coldness,  and  the  anxiety  of  all  Mexicans  to  be  on 
the  winning  side  hastened  his  downfall.  He  fell  with 
bewildering  rapidity.  If  he  had  not  been  assassinated, 
he  would  have  left  behind  the  reputation  of  a  man 
who  promised  much,  performed  little,  and  served  his 
country  ill.  It  was  the  unfortunate  incident  of  his 
assassination  which  provoked,  or  at  all  events  gave 
pretext  for,  the  present  war. 

To  such  an  extent  as  it  is  a  war  of  vengeance  it  is  a 
pitiful  futility.  To  such  an  extent  as  it  is  a  war  of 
personal  ambition  it  is  a  crime.  Neither  side  has 


72  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

anything  to  gain  by  victory.  The  country  has  every- 
thing to  lose  by  the  continuance  of  unrest.  It  will 
take  years  to  put  down  the  lawless  spirit  which  has 
been  reawakened  after  being  put  to  sleep  for  so  many 
years  under  President  Diaz  and  his  "  Rurales."  It 
will  be  long  before  confidence  revives.  And  all  this 
waste,  all  this  barbarism,  for  no  real  cause, — to  no 
sane  end  !  The  pity  of  it  !  The  pity  of  it  ! 


VIII 

WHAT  SALTILLO  TALKS  ABOUT 

FOR  ten  days  no  train  ran  from  Monterrey  in  any 
direction.  I  began  to  ask  about  another  mule-coach. 
Then  suddenly  late  one  afternoon  it  was  announced 
that  there  would  be  a  train  south  next  morning  at 
four  o'clock  to  Saltillo,  San  Luis  Potosi,  and  Mexico 
City.  After  so  many  disappointments  I  was  delighted 
by  the  prospect  of  getting  on. 

Monterrey  is  a  pleasant  city.  It  had  provided  me 
with  excellent  entertainment  in  the  shape  of  a  two 
days'  battle.  I  had  made  many  friendships  and 
enjoyed  the  bright  autumn  weather.  There  were  cer- 
tainly sad  and  gruesome  memories  mixed  with  the 
others.  I  shall  not  easily  forget  the  wailing  of  a 
woman  over  the  body  of  a  Federal  officer  killed  in 
the  fight.  It  had  been  carried  into  a  poor  house, 
and  I  suppose  his  wife  had  been  sent  for.  The  un- 
happy lady  was  almost  mad  with  grief.  The  door  of 
the  house  was  open  and  the  old  couple  to  whom  it 
belonged  sat  looking  on  bewildered  while,  with  her 
arms  about  the  cold  clay,  she  asked  in  frantic  tones 
why  Heaven  had  brought  this  misery  upon  her,  and 
what  would  become  of  her,  left  without  support. 

In  the  Mexican  Army  there  is  no  regular  system  of 
pensions  for  the  widows  of  those  who  are  killed  in 
action.  To  the  pain  of  their  bereavement  is  added 
fear  for  the  future.  Still  ringing  in  my  ears  is  her 

73 


74  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

pitiful  lamentation.  Still  I  can  see  the  wretched 
Carranzistas  dangling  from  the  telegraph  poles  and 
electric  light  standards.  But  my  dominant  recollec- 
tions of  Monterrey  are  happy  and  delightful.  Never- 
theless I  was  anxious  to  press  on. 

It  was  a  miserable  morning  when  I  started  just 
after  three  for  the  railway  station.  A  "  norte  "  (north 
wind)  had  begun  to  blow  two  days  before.  Thick 
overcoats  had  made  their  appearance  (mine  was  un- 
fortunately left  behind  with  the  bulk  of  my  luggage 
at  Laredo).  Then  rain  had  set  in.  But  I  did  not 
mind  it.  I  was  getting  on.  In  the  chilly  dark  we 
were  challenged  by  a  picket,  "  Quien  vive  ?  "  "  Mehico  " 
replied  my  cabman,  adding  "  Paisano "  (fellow- 
countryman),  and  we  drove  on. 

The  station  was  full  of  sleeping  soldiers  and  "  solda- 
deras,"  the  wives  who  follow  the  army,  cooking  and 
washing  and  mending  for  their  men.  They  lay  so 
close  together  that  in  the  dim  light  one  had  to  step 
carefully  so  as  not  to  tread  upon  them.  There  was 
plenty  of  time,  before  we  started,  to  look  at  the  train. 
It  was  arranged  in  view  of  the  possibility  that  it  might 
be  (a)  attacked,  or  (b)  blown  up.  Before  the  engine 
came  two  empty  vans.  After  the  engine  and  express 
car  was  a  carriage  full  of  soldiers,  about  seventy  men, 
with  a  machine  gun.  Then  followed  the  passenger 
cars,  crowded  with  people  who  had  been  waiting  for 
days  to  get  away. 

We  did  not  leave  at  four,  as  announced.  We  left 
at  5.20.  Still,  considering  the  conditions,  that  was 
not  so  bad.  Seeing  that  the  train  was  already  close 
upon  a  fortnight  late,  another  hour  or  so  made  little 
difference.  As  we  slowly  pulled  out  through  the 
railway  yards  we  saw  long  lines  of  burnt-out  goods 


WHAT  SALTILLO  TALKS  ABOUT    75 

cars  and  a  huge  pile  of  coal  still  burning.  No  attempt 
had  been  made  to  save  it,  although  coal  was  very 
scarce  in  Monterrey. 

An  hour  after  our  start  we  could  see,  in  the  livid 
light  of  dawn,  the  arid  mountain  scenery  through 
which  we  were  passing.  We  could  see  burned  stations 
and  the  charred  timbers  of  wooden  bridges  that  had 
been  fired.  The  steel  bridges  had  been  left,  showing 
that  the  rebel  leaders  set  a  limit  to  destruction.  Our 
pace  can  only  be  described  as  a  creep,  with  frequent 
and  long  stops.  It  was  a  wretched  morning  still.  On 
the  brow  of  a  descent  we  stayed  for  half-an-hour  before 
plunging  into  a  dense  white  mist,  which  might  hide 
all  kinds  of  rebel  ambushes. 

Saltillo  (pronounced  Solteeyo)  owes  a  delightful 
climate,  crisp  and  bracing,  to  its  five  thousand  feet 
altitude.  In  sunshine  it  is  gay  and  picturesque,  with 
its  open  white  cathedral  tower;  its  shady,  flowery 
Alameda ;  its  vista  of  light-brown  one-storeyed  houses 
built  of  "  adobe  "  (mud  brick)  straggling  up  the  fort- 
crowned  hill  and  reminding  one  of  a  town  in  Palestine. 
But  nothing  can  be  more  dreary  than  a  sunny  country 
without  the  sun.  I  was  comforted  to  find  stoves  and 
open  fires  in  the  hospitable  houses  of  the  foreign  colony, 
which  here  is  mainly  British.  We  agreed,  as  we  sat 
cosily  round  them,  that  it  was  just  such  a  first  of 
November  as  one  might  get  at  home. 

The  luxury  of  the  sun  next  morning  was  delicious. 
After  marketing  with  my  hostess  (who  bought  her 
vegetables  from  a  lady  with  long  black  shiny  hair 
hanging  down  her  back  and  a  cigarette  sticking  out 
at  the  corner  of  her  mouth),  I  sat  on  the  Plaza  to 
have  my  boots  cleaned,  the  invariable  practice  in 
Mexico,  and  let  the  golden  warmth  soak  into  my 


76  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

bones.  A  band  was  playing,  all  the  seats  were  full, 
dashing  officers  and  dainty  senoritas  were  promenading 
under  the  trees,  the  boot-blacks,  like  Murillo's  brown 
urchins  with  angelic  faces,  chaffed  and  squabbled  as 
they  blacked. 

The  only  fly  in  my  ointment  was  being  sold  a 
week-old  newspaper  by  a  cherub  most  appropriately 
named  Seraphito,  a  common  fraud  in  these  disturbed 
times,  when  often  no  newspapers  arrive  for  weeks  at 
a  time.  It  was  then  over  a  month  since  the  last  mail 
from  England  had  reached  Saltillo;  in  a  fortnight 
they  had  only  had  one  train  in  from  Mexico  City.  I 
expected  to  continue  my  journey  either  at  once  or  in 
twenty-four  hours,  but  on  the  notice-board  at  the 
station  there  were  chalked  against  each  train  the 
depressing  words,  "  No  corre  "  or  "No  hay  "  (Not 
running.  There  is  none).  Fighting  was  the  cause, 
a  sharp  little  battle  down  the  line.  So  I  was  held 
up  again.  However,  my  time  was  by  no  means 
wasted.  In  a  series  of  very  interesting  conversations 
I  learnt  a  great  deal  about  the  civil  war  in  Coahuila 
State. 

On  board  the  Lusitania  as  I  went  out  I  met  a  man 
who  manages  some  oil  properties  in  the  Tampico 
district.  I  asked  him  about  the  revolutionary  move- 
ment. He  compared  it  /airily  to  the  Afridi  raids  on 
our  Indian  frontier.  "  It  is  up  in  the  north,  you  know  " 
(he  spoke  as  if  the  north  were  of  small  consequence) ; 
"  the  bandits  do  a  certain  amount  of  damage  now  and 
then ;  frighten  people,  and  so  on ;  drive  oft  a  few  cattle ; 
rob  villages;  all  very  much  exaggerated." 

I  wish  that  man  could  have  had  my  experiences. 
I  wish  he  could  have  been  with  me  in  Monterrey  and 
in  this  once-contented,  prosperous  town  of  Saltillo. 


WHAT  SALTILLO  TALKS  ABOUT    77 

His  eyes  would  have  been  opened.  What  he  said  to 
me  he  said  in  all  sincerity.  In  his  district  there  was 
then  no  trouble  to  speak  of.  The  people  there  had 
small  knowledge  of  what  had  been  going  on  to  the 
north  and  west  of  them.  Instead  of  being  exaggerated, 
the  wreck  and  ruin  of  Mexico's  civil  war  have  not  had 
the  tenth  part  told  about  them. 

Here  in  Saltillo  the  rebellion  of  General  Carranza 
against  the  provisional  Presidency  of  General  Huerta 
began  in  February  1913,  after  the  enforced  resignation 
of  Madero,  followed  by  the  removal  of  himself  and 
his  Vice-President.  Carranza  was  Governor  of  the 
State  of  Coahuila,  which  in  normal  times  is  one  of  the 
richest  in  gold,  silver,  lead,  copper,  iron,  and  coal 
mines ;  in  cattle,  in  cotton,  in  wheat,  maize,  and  other 
kindly  fruits  of  the  soil.  All  the  foreign  colony  here 
and  many  Mexicans  are  convinced  that  Carranza  was 
preparing  to  rebel  against  Madero.  He  had  supported 
the  Maderista  movement,  but  is  said  to  have  been 
dissatisfied  and  restless  after  its  success. 

I  have  reported  faithfully  what  General  Carranza 
said  to  me  in  Hermosillo.  The  impression  made  by  his 
words  and  his  personality  was  favourable.  What  I  have 
seen  since  of  his  followers,  their  pillage  and  destruction, 
has  persuaded  me  that  the  best  hope  for  the  country 
lies  in  their  subjugation ;  but  I  still  believe  him  to  be 
sincerely  anxious  for  reform.  If  the  charge  of  vaulting 
ambition  were  made  against  him  by  irresponsible 
tongues,  I  should  ignore  it.  But  seeing  that  men  of 
the  highest  character  and  the  most  prominent  position 
repeat  it,  it  cannot  be  passed  over. 

They  allege  that  for  months  Carranza  had  been 
drawing  large  sums  of  money  from  the  National 
Treasury  for  the  purpose  of  paying  troops.  It  might 


78  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

be  that  he  foresaw  the  anti-Madero  outbreak  and  was 
preparing  to  support  his  chief.  That  view  obtains 
no  credence  in  Saltillo.  The  belief  there  is,  among 
the  people  who  knew  and  watched  him,  that  he  would 
have  declared  war  against  Madero,  just  as  General 
Orosco,  another  Maderista  leader,  had  done.  That 
no  Mexican  can  be  disinterested  is  the  conviction, 
not  only  of  the  foreigners  in  Mexico,  but  of  the  native- 
born  as  well.  It  is  a  conviction  which  one  is  inclined 
to  discount.  There  must  be  exceptions.  Human 
nature  cannot  be  so  different  here  from  human  nature 
in  other  countries.  But  the  exceptions  are,  it  seems, 
discouragingly  few  in  number. 

The  State  of  Coahuila,  being  the  birthplace  of  the 
Carranza  rebellion  (the  third  since  1910),  has  suffered 
severely  from  the  operations  of  war.  It  has  been 
overrun  by  both  armies,  which  meant  the  crippling 
of  agriculture,  the  disorganization  of  railways,  the  loss 
of  an  enormous  amount  of  cattle ;  and  which  may 
mean  the  ruin  of  an  unusually  fine  crop  of  cotton. 
Its  chief  towns,  Saltillo,  Torreon,  Monclova,  and 
Ciudad  Porfirio  Diaz,  have  all  been  alternately  in  rebel 
and  in  Federal  hands. 

Torreon  fell  in  October  without  street  fighting;  the 
Federal  garrison  evacuated  the  city  after  rebel  victories 
in  its  neighbourhood.  There  were  other  Federal 
troops  near  at  hand,  and  the  general  who  led  them 
will,  it  is  said,  be  tried  for  failing  to  march  to  the 
rescue.  He  is  suspected  of  Carranzista  sympathies. 
But  that  is  "  only  shutting  the  stable  door,"  a  practice 
even  commoner  in  Mexico  than  elsewhere. 

The  Constitutionalist  forces  marched  into  Torreon, 
then,  without  opposition.  It  is  a  rich  city,  situated 
in  the  fertile  cotton-growing  district  known  as  the 


WHAT  SALTILLO  TALKS  ABOUT    79 

Laguna.  It  has  good  shops ;  at  once  these  were  looted. 
But  as  soon  as  General  Villa  arrived  he  put  a  stop  to 
this  unauthorized  and  irregular  pillage.  He  is  a 
stickler  for  plundering  decently  and  in  order.  In 
polite  but  peremptory  form  he  presented  to  the  banks 
and  business  houses  a  demand  for  three  million  pesos 
(£300,000),  and  I  am  assured  on  good  authority  that 
what  he  received  came  very  near  this  sum.  Having 
received  it,  he  soon  afterwards  left  the  city,  taking 
the  bulk  of  the  money  with  him,  to  the  discontent  of 
the  other  rebel  leaders.  Villa,  however,  is  not  a  man 
to  be  argued  with.  To  Carranza,  who  claimed  part 
of  his  booty,  he  is  reported  to  have  replied  :  "  Take 
your  chance  of  a  bullet  as  I  do  and  you  will  get  your 
share." 

Several  Spaniards  living  in  Torreon  were  murdered, 
but  there  was  happily  nothing  to  compare  with  the 
horrible  massacre  of  the  Chinese,  to  the  number  of 
300,  which  disgraced  the  Madero  rebellion.  The 
Chinese  are  disliked  because  they  are  mostly  employed 
in  cooking  and  washing.  It  is  said  that  poor  Indian 
women  started  the  massacre  by  crying  out,  "  Kill 
those  who  take  away  our  work."  Further,  the  Chinese 
in  Torreon  are  said  to  have  "  waxed  fat  and  kicked." 
They  were  a  prosperous  community  and  had  become 
proud. 

Spaniards  are  also  unpopular  in  Mexico,  although 
some  newspapers  of  a  Catholic  complexion  print  news 
from  Spain  under  the  heading,  "  The  Mother  Country." 
They  and  the  Arabs  are  the  small  shop-keepers  of  the 
country.  Their  ability  in  this  line  is  bitterly  resented. 

The  Insurrectos  executed  as  well  some  members  of 
the  local  volunteer  force  known  as  the  "  Defensa 
Social";  others  escaped  by  taking  refuge  in  the 


80  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

houses  of  foreigners.  There  are  defence  societies  in 
many  towns.  The  bloody  vengeance  meted  out  to 
their  members,  wherever  they  are  captured,  illustrates 
the  savage  folly  of  the  revolutionaries.  If  they  were 
indeed  actuated  by  patriotic  motive,  they  would  try 
to  sow  as  little  heritage  of  hate  as  possible.  By  their 
barbarous  acts  of  revenge  and  destruction,  deplored 
by  their  more  civilized  chiefs,  they  have  revealed  the 
true  measure  of  their  minds. 

Saltillo  has  not  as  yet  been  so  harshly  treated  as 
Torreon,  but  it  has  had  its  hours  of  anxiety  and  it 
lives  in  fear  of  further  attack.  At  every  moment, 
almost,  the  visitor  is  reminded  of  the  lamentable 
condition  to  which  this  flourishing  city  has  been 
reduced  by  civil  war.  Conversation  turns  upon  nothing 
but  dangers  and  losses  past,  and  upon  the  apprehension 
of  others  to  come.  Bullet -holes  in  walls  and  woodwork 
are  shown  to  prove  the  risks  to  life  endured  by  peaceable 
inhabitants,  British  and  Americans  among  the  rest, 
during  the  severe  attack  delivered  last  Easter.  Valu- 
ables are  packed  away  and  furniture  arranged  so  that 
at  a  moment's  notice  upper  rooms  can  be  abandoned 
and  quarters  taken  up  on  the  ground  floor.  Even 
baths  are  filled  at  night  in  case  the  rebels'  threat  to 
poison  or  cut  the  water  supply  should  be  carried  out 
before  morning. 

Most  of  the  foreigners  living  here,  as  elsewhere  in 
Mexico,  have  broken  up  their  homes  and  sent  their 
families  to  England  or  the  United  States.  I  was 
eagerly  asked  for  news.  No  letters  or  newspapers 
had  reached  the  British  residents  for  several  weeks. 
I  heard  from  one  business  man  of  a  cotton  factory 
which  cost  £70,000  being  burned  because  the  manager 
in  charge  had  no  money  to  give  the  rebels.  Another 


WHAT   SALTILLO  TALKS   ABOUT        81 

gloomily  spoke  of  a  cotton  crop  in  the  Laguna  worth 
£200,000,  about  which  he  could  get  no  news  since 
Torreon  was  still  occupied  by  the  Insurrectos  and 
communications  were  completely  cut.  A  third  related 
how  his  company  had  to  pay  £2,500  to  a  rebel  leader 
for  permission  to  run,  on  their  own  line,  a  train  taking 
out  the  women  and  children  from  their  little  mining 
town.  They  outwitted  him,  however,  by  making  up 
all  their  engines  and  rolling  stock,  and  sending  them 
out  at  night,  so  that  the  line  was  useless  to  the  rebels, 
the  other  end  of  it  being  under  Federal  control. 

A  fourth  man,  a  German  this  time,  who  had  been 
manager  of  coal  mines  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
State,  gave  me  photographs  showing  how  these  had 
been  wantonly  wrecked.  They  belonged,  by  the  way, 
to  members  of  the  "  Cientifico  "  Party  which  destroyed 
the  popularity  of  President  Diaz.  This  explained  the 
furious  attack  upon  their  buildings  and  machinery. 

At  every  turn  of  conversation,  the  war  came  up. 
My  hostess  deplored  the  scarcity  of  fresh  vegetables. 
The  Chinese  who  used  to  grow  them  had  fled,  fearing 
to  be  murdered  like  their  fellow-countrymen  in  Torreon. 
The  rainy  season  was  talked  about.  "  Ah  !  what  a 
year  this  would  have  been  for  crops,  if  only.  .  .  ." 
I  inquired  about  the  education  given  in  the  large  and 
imposing  Normal  School  of  Saltillo.  "  It  used  to  be 
good,  but  in  these  disturbed  times,  you  know.  ..." 
I  was  told  about  an  effort  to  form  a  society  for  pre- 
venting the  cruelty  to  animals  which  is  so  distressing 
in  Mexico,  although  it  is  due  mainly  to  dullness  of 
imagination.  "  Nothing  has  been  done  lately.  Im- 
possible in  such  times  as  these  !  " 

Business  stands  still.  To  loss  and  anxiety  is  added 
the  burden  of  enforced  idleness.  Sometimes  the 


82  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

foreigners  wish  that  the  rebels'  threat  of  another 
attack  might  be  carried  out,  if  only  to  vary  the  mono- 
tony. Up  to  now  foreign  property  in  the  town  has 
not  been  intentionally  damaged;  nor  were  the  British 
and  Americans  made  contributors  to  the  "  loan  "  of 
£10,000  which  was  forcibly  levied  upon  the  city  while 
the  Carranzistas  controlled  it.  This  was  a  daring  act 
of  brigandage.  Two  chiefs  of  humble  origin,  but 
determined  character,  summoned  the  leading  Mexican 
inhabitants  one  night  and  demanded  that  this  sum 
should  immediately  be  paid  over  to  them.  It  was 
pointed  out  that  the  banks  were  shut.  "  They  must 
be  opened."  A  time  limit  was  set;  the  trembling 
Mexicans,  several  of  them  old  men,  were  kept  in  the 
"  Palacio  "  with  a  guard  over  them;  and  they  were 
told  in  true  brigand  style  that,  if  the  money  were  not 
found,  they  would  be  carried  off. 

A  house-to-house  collection  of  coin  was  hastily  made, 
for  the  rebel  leaders  would  not  accept  paper  money. 
At  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  all  but  £400  of  the  £10,000 
had  been  raised.  This  the  robbers  accepted,  and  one 
of  them  made  a  graceful  speech  of  thanks,  promising 
that  when  the  revolution  triumphed  the  money  should 
be  returned.  His  irony  was  little  appreciated. 

The  Insurrectos  now  profess  to  stand  astonished  at 
their  own  moderation.  They  say  that  should  they 
take  Saltillo  again  they  will  treat  it  as  they  treated 
Torreon.  For  some  time  past  the  inhabitants  have 
felt  fairly  secure,  because  General  Pena,  the  only 
Federal  leader  whom  the  rebels  fear,  has  been  there 
with  his  command.  Now  he  has  been  sent  further 
north.  There  is  still  a  strong  garrison,  but  it  is 
complained  of  the  Federals,  officers  and  men  alike, 
that  they  prosecute  the  campaign  with  little  heart. 


WHAT   SALTILLO   TALKS   ABOUT         88 

Their  organization  is  often  lamentably  at  fault. 
One  night  there  was  a  piteous  scene  at  the  railway 
station.  On  the  line  south  (which  has  been  blocked 
ever  since)  a  train  carrying  soldiers  was  dynamited. 
It  was  the  fourth  atrocity  of  this  kind  within  a  few 
weeks.  All  had  been  the  work  of  a  force  which  for 
many  months  had  been  left  unattacked  in  Concepcion 
del  Oro,  where  the  principal  mines  and  smelters  of 
the  Mazapil  Copper  Company  are  situated. 

The  method  of  the  fiends  in  human  form  who  carry 
on  this  devilish  warfare  is  to  bury  a  dynamite  bomb 
under  the  line.  At  a  little  distance  they  have  a  battery 
connected  up  by  wire.  All  they  have  to  do  is  to  hide 
behind  a  bush  and  touch  a  button. 

More  than  100  men  were  killed  by  this  explosion, 
most  of  them  Federal  "  Irregulars/'  poor  wretches 
forced  to  take  up  arms.  The  wounded  survivors  were 
brought  back  to  Saltillo  by  a  relief  train  late  at  night. 
No  preparation  whatever  had  been  made  to  receive 
them  and  attend  to  their  appalling  injuries.  The 
excuse  offered  afterwards  was  that  they  were  not  ex- 
pected so  soon  !  The  only  comfort  to  the  dying  was 
the  last  Sacrament,  administered  by  a  brave  little 
French  priest,  who  knelt  on  a  car  floor  slippery  with 
blood  and  could  scarcely  hold  his  post  for  nausea. 
Doctors  were  sent  for.  Two  refused  to  answer  to  the 
call.  Some  say  they  were  afraid  they  would  not  be 
paid  for  their  services.  Others  say  they  are  "  Constitu- 
tionalists." It  was  not  until  three  hours  had  passed 
that  the  poor  wretches  in  agony  reached  the  hospital. 

Even  those  who  are  most  bitter  against  the  "bandits  " 
admit  that  the  Government  cannot  expect  its  soldiers 
to  fight  well  if  they  are  so  cruelly  neglected.  The  lack 
of  medical  attention  in  the  field  throws  many  lives 


84  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

away  which  might  easily  be  saved.  A  poor  woman 
living  in  Saltillo  lost  her  son  simply  because  there  was 
no  one  to  tie  a  severed  artery.  The  wound  was  simple, 
but  he  bled  to  death.  That  is  only  one  case  out  of 
hundreds. 

The  reply  of  the  Government  is  that  they  are  very 
hard  pressed  even  for  money  with  which  to  pay  their 
soldiers.  That  is  certainly  true.  If  they  could  have 
borrowed  the  millions  they  hoped  for,  they  would 
have  made  more  rapid  progress  against  the  revolution, 
and  they  would  be  able  to  treat  the  men  who  are  fighting 
their  battles  more  humanely.  The  demand  of  the 
United  States  for  President  Huerta's  disappearance 
is  based,  not  upon  his  inability  to  prevent  impoverish- 
ment of  Americans  and  risk  to  their  lives,  but  upon 
his  supposed  complicity  (of  which  no  evidence  is 
offered)  in  the  killing  of  Madero.  A  sober  Englishman, 
whose  name  is  widely  known  in  Mexico,  said  to  me, 
"  Mr.  Wilson  and  Mr.  Bryan  accuse  the  President  of 
being  responsible  for  one  death.  They  are  responsible 
for  thousands.  But  for  them  the  civil  war  would  have 
ended  long  ago."  Most  foreigners  in  Mexico  share  that 
Englishman's  view. 


IX 

WHY  TRAINS  ARE   LATE 

LORD  TENNYSON  wrote  a  poem  which  was  suggested 
to  him  by  "  waiting  for  a  train  at  Coventry."  I 
wonder  what  he  would  have  written  if  he  had  had  to 
wait  for  a  train  at  Saltillo — more  than  half  a  week. 
Something  vigorous,  I  make  no  doubt.  Yet  even 
more  violent  would  have  been  his  language  if  he  had 
been  sent  on  without  delay  and  been  obliged  to  spend 
four  days  on  the  road,  not  in  Pullman  coaches  but  in 
freight  wagons.  That  is  what  would  have  happened 
to  me  if  the  train  which  brought  me  from  Monterrey 
had  gone  on  at  once  from  Saltillo  to  San  Luis  and 
Mexico  City.  The  passengers  who  arrived  in  Saltillo 
on  the  night  of  November  4  left  the  capital  on  October 
31.  Three  nights  they  spent  in  box-cars,  that  is  to 
say,  goods  vans,  without  bedding,  dependent  for  what 
food  they  could  get  upon  the  meagre  supplies  of  a 
regiment  encamped  close  by. 

Still,  that  was  better  than  being  blown  up,  which 
would  have  been  their  misfortune  if  they  had  gone 
on.  Their  train  was  stopped  because  a  Federal 
scouting  party  saw  rebels  near  the  line.  Naturally 
they  suspected  dynamite,  nor  were  they  wrong.  They 
found  altogether  about  fifty  bombs  on  or  under  the 
rails.  The  train  I  hoped  to  take  on  November  i 
would  have  struck  these  just  after  they  had  been 
laid,  and  would  have  been  blown  into  the  air.  So, 

85 


86  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

after  all,  instead  of  grumbling  at  the  suspended  service, 
I  ought  to  have  been  thanking  the  authorities  for 
saving  me  from  a  sudden  and  probably  painful  death. 
Which  I  do  most  fervently  now. 

Even  on  November  5,  when  the  general  in  command 
permitted  a  train  to  start,  the  danger  was  not  quite 
over.  We  had,  of  course,  a  "  tren  explorador "  ; 
that  is  to  say,  a  number  of  cars  filled  with  soldiers  and 
fitted  with  Maxims,  ran  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
ahead.  For  a  good  many  miles  all  was  quiet.  In  the 
hot  sunshine  of  a  brilliant  autumn  morning  the  bare 
mountains  sparkled  as  if  their  riches  of  gold,  silver 
and  copper  had  been  drawn  to  the  surface.  We  passed 
a  goatherd  standing  motionless,  an  idyllic  figure 
(from  a  distance) ;  his  goats  stood  out  perfectly  white 
against  the  grey-green  ground.  In  the  fields  the 
peasants  stopped  working  to  look  at  the  train,  an 
unusual  sight.  Around  Saltillo  is  rich  country,  or 
country  which  was  rich  before  the  civil  war.  But  for 
the  troubles,  1913  would  have  been  for  Mexico  a  year 
of  marvellous  prosperity.  Such  crops  as  could  be 
gathered  were  of  unusual  quality.  The  rains  were 
specially  good.  Prices  of  metals  were  high  too.  But 
seed-time  and  harvest  were  interfered  with  and  the 
mines  were  idle.  Every  one  suffered  save  those  who 
were  fighting.  The  Insurrectos  are  "  having  the  time 
of  their  lives." 

After  a  couple  of  hours'  continuous  running  we  pull 
up  at  a  small  station.  Here  there  is  another  troop 
train.  This  is  to  "  explore  "  for  us  too.  War-stained 
officers,  their  uniforms  patched  and  grimy,  hold  an 
animated  conference.  The  passengers — there  are  very 
few;  most  people  have  a  superstitious  objection  to 
the  first  train  after  an  interruption — watch  and  listen. 


WHY  TRAINS   ARE  LATE  87 

Are  we  to  be  turned  back  ?  No,  in  time  the  discussion 
falters.  Then  the  officers  disperse — the  captain  in 
dirty  white  trousers  tucked  into  brown  leather  gaiters 
which  come  down  over  black  buttoned  boots ;  the 
major  wearing  a  blue  jersey  with  "  jemimas  "  on  his 
feet  and  puttees ;  the  lieutenant,  smartest  of  the  three 
until  he  turns  round  and  shows  that  he  has  been  sitting 
apparently  on  an  ash-heap.  They  climb  into  their 
trains  and  off  we  go.  Purring  hard,  we  climb  a  range 
of  hills.  Then  we  plod  through  a  wide,  flat,  fertile 
•valley.  Suddenly  with  a  jerk  we  stop.  We  are  near 
Lulu,  the  station  where  less  than  a  fortnight  ago  a 
train  was  dynamited  and  over  a  hundred  killed. 
This  is  a  favourite  haunt  of  rebels,  anxious  to  "  hold 
up  "  trains. 

Way  over  in  the  bush  is  a  moving  cloud  of  dust. 
It  moves  quickly.  A  troop  of  horsemen,  a  big  troop. 
Already  two  or  three  score  of  little  Federals  have 
dropped  off  the  train  ahead,  and  made  their  way  into 
the  scrub.  Still  the  horsemen  hold  their  way.  Now 
we  can  see  some  of  them  as  they  come  out  into  an 
open  patch  of  grass-land.  The  sun  glitters  on  their 
gun-barrels. 

Pop,  pop,  pop  !  go  the  Federal  rifles,  and  pip,  pip, 
pip  !  from  further  off  comes  the  rebel  reply.  I  feel 
the  affair  is  unreal.  It  is  hard  to  keep  in  mind  that 
any  one  of  those  little  Federals  may  be  changed 
suddenly  from  activity  to  stillness,  may  be  left  lying 
there  with  lead  in  him  when  we  go  on.  To  the  Mexicans 
in  the  train,  though,  the  fight  is  real  enough.  There 
is  a  scramble  for  "  safe  "  places — one  man  hides 
behind  the  drinking-water  tank  !  As  if  any  place  in 
a  railway  carriage  could  be  safe  from  Mauser  bullets  ! 
Still,  there  are  plenty  of  bullets  that  do  not  hit 


88  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

anything  or  anybody,  especially  in  Mexico,  so  some  of 
us  stand  at  the  window  watching  to  see  if  the  skirmish 
is  going  to  develop.  It  does  not.  It  ends  most  un- 
satisfactorily. The  rebels  are  off  their  horses  taking 
cover  among  the  bushes.  The  firing  slackens  and  stops. 
Evidently  the  sides  are  too  equally  matched  for  the 
"  scrap "  to  continue.  That  is  so  often  the  way. 
Each  party  prefers  to  fight  with  an  advantage  in  its 
favour.  By  twos  and  threes  the  little  men  come 
trotting  back,  hot  and  dusty.  Their  engine  has  to 
hoot  several  times  for  them  before  the  tale  is  complete. 
Then  we  slide  on  again. 

It  is  because  there  are  so  many  of  these  inconclusive 
engagements,  mere  reconnoitring  skirmishes,  that  the 
war  continues ;  and  bids  fair  to  continue,  if  there  be 
no  interference,  for  years  to  come.  The  only  way 
for  the  Federals  to  gain  ground  against  the  rebels 
is  to  hunt  these  small  bodies  of  them  down,  and  either 
capture  or  kill  them.  Wherever  they  are  sighted, 
they  should  be  pursued.  It  is  Federal  slackness 
which  sends  up  the  numbers  of  the  disaffected. 
Rebellion  is  seen  to  be  a  profitable  and  not  at  all 
a  dangerous  occupation. 

It  is  the  increasing  numbers  of  rebel  bands,  such  as 
this  one  between  Saltillo  and  Vanegas,  which  is  making 
the  country  unsafe  to  live  in,  and  which  will  in  a 
short  time  (unless  they  are  suppressed)  ruin  by  far  the 
greater  number  of  foreigners  who  depend  for  their 
living  upon  Mexican  property,  whether  it  be  mines, 
ranches,  oil-wells,  wholesale  or  retail  trading  houses, 
no  matter  what.  Already  the  opportunities  of  em- 
ployment have  been  reduced  to  such  an  extent  that 
many  a  peon  has  to  choose  between  joining  a  band 
of  "  Revoltosos  "  and  starving.  Once  he  has  joined, 


WHY  TRAINS   ARE   LATE  89 

he  has  no  desire  to  go  back  to  work.  He  earns  more 
and  has  a  far  more  exciting  life.  Brigandage  is  still 
in  the  Mexican  blood,  and  possesses  an  irresistible 
attraction  for  the  "  enterprising,"  not  only  among 
peons,  but  among  the  new  artisan  middle  class,  more 
particularly  so  since  the  latter  can  pretend  to  them- 
selves and  others  that  they  are  fighting  for  the  cause 
of  democratic  liberty. 

A  carpenter  or  an  electrician  who  has  upset  his 
mental  digestion  by  a  diet  of  crude  Socialism  gathers 
a  few  followers,  who  steal  rifles  and  horses  and  ride 
off  to  some  small  village  where  they  terrorize  the 
inhabitants  and  take  up  their  quarters.  They  declare, 
if  they  are  asked,  that  they  are  "  Revolucionarios  "  ; 
in  reality  they  are  bandits.  They  go  round  to  every 
one  of  substance  in  the  neighbourhood.  They  take 
whatever  they  can  find  in  the  way  of  money,  clothes, 
provisions,  and  liquor,  especially  liquor.  If  they  are 
thwarted,  they  kill. 

How  many  Mexicans  have  been  murdered,  how 
many  women  have  been  outraged  by  these  ruffians, 
there  are  no  means  of  telling.  Such  horrors  are 
happening  daily.  Even  the  armies  of  Francisco  Villa 
and  Jesus  Carranza,  which  may  be  called  regular 
armies,  have  laid  to  their  charge  the  most  barbarous 
excesses.  Isolated  commandoes  exist  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  committing  them. 

The  outlook  would  be  dark  enough  if  they  confined 
themselves  to  terrorizing  their  own  country  people. 
But  from  the  European  point  of  view  the  situation 
is  far  worse.  For  a  time  foreign  property  was  re- 
spected; the  lives  of  foreigners  were  in  little  danger. 
Now  the  larger  Insurrecto  bodies  declare  their  in- 
tention of  "  taxing  "  (that  is,  blackmailing)  foreign 


90  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

concerns.  Small,  irresponsible  bands  maltreat  and 
plunder  individuals.  Many  outrages  are  also  per- 
petrated by  peons  who  do  not  trouble  to  shelter  under 
the  rebel  standard.  The  prestige  of  the  white  people, 
which  kept  them  safe  among  a  population  always 
ready  to  revert  to  barbarism,  has  sadly  declined. 
The  arm  of  the  law  has  weakened,  savage  assaults, 
insolent  robberies  are  committed  and  go  unpunished 
every  week. 

Even  in  a  state  like  Jalisco,  which  is  supposed  to 
have  been  very  little  disturbed,  this  sort  of  thing  is 
liable  to  occur  :  An  Englishman  and  his  wife  named 
Bering  have  a  ranch  only  a  mile  or  so  beyond  the 
Guadalajara  street-car  terminus,  quite  near  the  city. 
One  night  at  dinner  their  dogs  began  to  growl,  and 
immediately  an  attack  was  made  by  men  armed  with 
machetes,  the  short,  sharp  knives  which  are  used  for 
cutting  sugar-cane  and  all  sorts  of  other  purposes. 
One  of  the  servants  rushed  off  to  the  street-car  and 
summoned  help.  A  troop  of  horse  galloped  to  the 
house.  Fortunately  the  brave  pair  had  managed  to 
drive  their  assailants  off,  but  Mr.  Holmes,  the  helpful, 
energetic  British  Consul  at  Guadalajara,  described 
the  scene  when  he  got  there  as  a  "  shambles."  Both 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bering  had  been  cut  in  many  places. 
Eight  deep  wounds  had  to  be  sewn  up. 

In  the  neighbouring  state  of  Michoacan  a  Canadian 
named  Swayne  had  his  house  attacked  and  burned 
over  his  head.  He  died  in  the  flames,  unless  a  shot 
had  taken  effect  before.  At  Coohuyma  an  Englishman 
named  Laughton  and  another  man,  von  Thaden, 
were  both  shot  dead.  At  the  Buena vista  Mine  one 
Boris  Gorow,  an  American  citizen,  was  the  victim  of 
an  unusually  horrible  outrage.  A  body  of  rebels 


WHY  TRAINS   ARE   LATE  91 

rode  up  and  demanded  arms.  These  were  refused. 
They  fired ;  their  fire  was  returned.  A  boy  was  killed, 
and  the  rebels  accused  Gorow  of  killing  him.  Three 
men  who  were  also  at  the  mine,  two  called  Budd  and 
Bromley,  the  third  a  Spaniard,  managed  to  escape. 
The  Spaniard  rolled  down  a  gully  and  hid  in  a  cave. 
The  other  two  got  up  a  hill  and  thence  saw  Gorow 
done  to  death  on  a  plateau  below,  after  which  the 
ruffians  tore  the  gold-filled  teeth  out  of  his  mouth  to 
sell  for  what  they  would  fetch. 

Not  far  from  the  town  of  Aguascalientes  a  pecu- 
liarly atrocious  affray  illustrated  the  dangerous  spirit 
which  is  growing  among  the  labourer  class.  A  Scots- 
man named  Walker,  the  owner  of  a  quicksilver  mine, 
did  not  receive,  as  usual,  at  the  end  of  one  week  the 
pay  for  his  men.  The  rebels  had  interrupted  the 
train  service ;  the  bank  in  Mexico  City  could  not 
send  the  money.  But  the  pelados  would  not  hear 
reason.  They  attacked  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Walker  with 
machetes.  They  were  replied  to  with  revolver-shots. 
Both  husband  and  wife  fired,  and  fired  with  good  aim. 
They  killed  between  them  seven  of  their  assailants, 
but  not,  of  course,  without  suffering  badly  themselves. 

As  Mrs.  Walker  lay  on  the  ground,  almost  exhausted 
by  pain  and  loss  of  blood,  a  man  went  towards  the 
kitchen  door,  where  her  daughter  of  fifteen  and  two 
smaller  children  were.  She  called  to  him  to  turn 
back.  When  he  refused  she  shot  him  through  the 
head.  He  fell  across  the  doorway,  and  she  had  to 
crawl  over  his  body  to  get  into  the  kitchen.  Here  she 
stood  up,  and  on  the  wall  against  which  she  leaned 
a  print  of  her  body  was  left — in  blood.  At  this  moment 
the  chief  of  police  arrived.  His  only  idea  was  to 
shoot  at  Mrs.  Walker  as  she  stood.  Fortunately  the 


92  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

bullet  struck  between  her  feet.  The  one  redeeming 
feature  of  the  story,  so  far  as  Mexicans  are  concerned, 
is  that  when  the  family  were  taken  into  town,  the 
people  of  Aguascalientes  cheered  them  for  their  pluck. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  such  out- 
rages are  being  committed  every  day  or  in  every  part 
of    the    country.      Now    that    we    are    approaching 
Vanegas,  we  shall  soon  be  in  a  district  which  for  the 
moment   is   undisturbed.     Yet   in   Vanegas   itself,    a 
junction  and  a  little  town  half-way  towards  San  Luis, 
there  are  signs  enough  of  disturbance  not  far  away. 
The  lines  here  are  all  cluttered  up  with  troop-trains. 
This  is  what  they  call  a  "  meal  station."    The  train 
usually  reaches  here  in  the  middle  of  the  day  and  stops 
for  the  passengers  to  take  their  "  comida  "  in  the 
restaurant.    We  arrive  towards  six  o'clock  and  there 
is  no  food  to  be  had.     The  hungry  troops  have  eaten 
the  place  bare.     Luckily  I  had  a  lunch-packet  with 
me  and  saved  half  for  dinner.    Otherwise  I  should 
go  hungry  till  late  at  night,  as  many  must  do.     We 
wait  interminably.    The  sun  lights  up  the  mountains 
with  a  barren  beauty.     They  are  not  friendly,  like 
the  mountains  of  Switzerland  and  Tyrol.    There  are 
no   pastures    up   there,    no    farmhouses;     no    warm, 
human  interest  softens  the  savagery  of  Nature.     Dark 
has  come  before  enough  troop-trains  are  pushed  aside 
to  let  us  pass.    Then  we  run  quickly  and  the  train- 
men put  their  official  caps  on,  for  we  are  out  of  the 
danger  zone.     If  the  rebels  had  caught  them  with 
their  caps  on  they  would  have  been  shot  for  helping 
to  run  trains.    So  they  were  prepared  to  pretend  that 
they  were  merely  passengers. 

Eleven  o'clock  before  we  are  in  San  Luis  Potosi. 


WHY  TRAINS   ARE  LATE  93 

We  have  been  thirteen  hours  on  the  road  instead  of 
eight.  But  the  time-table  does  not  allow  for  skirmishes 
by  the  way.  Now  the  last  obstacle  between  me  and 
Mexico  City  is  surmounted.  From  this  handsome 
city,  with  its  well-paved  streets,  its  fine  buildings, 
old  and  new,  its  pretty  gardens,  and  streets  of  good 
shops — from  here  to  the  capital  the  line  has  not  been 
disturbed.  So,  after  strife  without  ceasing  for  a 
month  all  but  a  day,  I  am  within  twelve  hours  of  my 
goal.  I  have  got  back  into  a  region  where  one  does 
not  have  to  ask  humbly,  "  Please  will  there  be  a  train 
to-day?  " 

After  San  Luis  the  country  is  richer  and  better- 
watered.  The  sun  glints  on  numberless  irrigation 
"  dams  "  or  lakes.  The  glare  from  a  long  one  running 
beside  the  railway  blinds  the  eyes.  Cultivation  is 
extensive,  but  not  intensive.  The  barley  and  the 
oats  are  poor  in  ear ;  many  crops  look  not  worth  cut- 
ting, only  good  to  be  ploughed  in.  The  maize  might 
be  far  finer  if  it  were  intelligently  raised.  No  fault 
to  find  with  the  cattle,  however,  except  that  there 
might  be  more  herds.  Although  there  is  so  much 
fine  ranching  and  dairying  country  in  Mexico,  the  milk 
one  buys  is  very  often  goat's  milk.  That  to  many 
palates  is  unwelcome,  even  disgusting.  Two  amusing 
stories  are  told  of  tourists  who  tried  to  avoid  it. 
Neither  could  speak  Spanish.  One  drew  as  well  as 
he  could  a  picture  of  a  cow  on  the  breakfast  menu  and 
showed  it  to  the  waiter,  saying  "  Milk."  The  waiter 
looked  at  it,  a  smile  of  understanding  lit  up  his  face. 
He  returned  five  minutes  afterwards  with  a  ticket 
for  the  next  Sunday's  bull-fight.  The  other  tourist 
knew  that  the  Spanish  for  milk  was  "  leche,"  but  he 


94  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

couldn't  think  of  the  right  expression  for  cow's  milk, 
"  leche  de  vacca."  "  Traigame  leche  de — de  senora 
de  toro,"  he  plunged.  ("  Bring  me  milk  of  the  lady 
bull.")  He  was  perfectly  understood. 

It  is  evident  that  we  are  penetrating  further  south. 
No  longer  do  we  see  the  blackened  shells  of  burnt-out 
railway  stations,  but  stations  gay  with  flowers  growing 
in  sunny  profusion  wherever  they  can  find  a  root-hold. 
The  walls  are  covered  with  nasturtium.  The  red 
blossoms  of  the  castor-bean  plant  make  the  white 
flowers  of  a  bush  something  like  a  rhododendren  look 
virgin-pale  by  comparison;  the  pale  lilac  of  clusters 
from  a  small  tree  reminds  one  of  an  English  early  May. 
Alternating  with  the  flat,  fertile  valleys,  are  stretches 
of  rugged  mountain  scenery.  Soon  after  Quer6taro 
is  passed,  an  old  city  with  history  oozing  from  it  and 
picturesqueness  crying  out  for  a  painter's  brush  and 
palette  at  every  turn,  we  are  in  a  rocky  region  of  deep 
gorges,  of  narrow  passes,  of  streams  leaping  and 
foaming  beside  the  line.  Then  down  again  into  the 
level  country  lying  outside  the  barrier  of  mountains 
which  guards  the  Valley  of  Mexico.  Through  this 
barrier  in  a  tunnel  and  we  are  almost  at  the  capital. 

For  some  time  the  names  of  the  stations  have  been 
Aztec,  not  Spanish.  Instead  of  La  Llave,  Carrasco, 
San  Nicolas,  we  have  Huehuetoca,  Tlalnepantla, 
Cuauhtitlan.  Outside  the  Valley  of  Mexico  north- 
wards, the  Spaniards  found  only  small  tribes  of  Indians, 
mostly  nomads.  They  named  places  as  they  pleased, 
did  not  trouble  to  learn  local  dialects.  The  Aztec 
names,  on  the  other  hand,  they  kept,  impressed  by 
Aztec  civilization.  Here  is  Azcapotzalco,  for  another, 
showing  that  we  are  close  to  our  journey's  end.  Hotel 


WHY  TRAINS   ARE   LATE  95 

touts  invade  the  train,  distributing  cards  and  pressing 
the  advantages  and  the  cheapness  of  the  houses  they 
represent.  Then  Chapultepec,  towering  quite  near  us, 
and  a  few  minutes  later  the  Colonia  Station  with  the 
usual  bustle  of  arrival  at  an  important  point. 


MEXICO   CITY 

MEXICO  CITY  (the  Mexicans  call  it  simply  "  Mehico  ") 
is  like  a  pretty  woman  dressed  with  charm  and  taste, 
but  having  no  conversation,  nothing  save  her  looks 
to  recommend  her.  At  first  I  was  delighted.  To 
begin  with,  the  climate  is  marvellous,  and  the  climate 
affects  the  city  in  many  ways. 

In  general  I  dislike  cities.  Their  pavements  tire 
my  feet.  Their  smokiness  chokes  me.  Their  noise 
and  bustle  chafe  my  nerves.  In  Mexico  I  experienced 
none  of  these  sensations.  First,  and  best  of  all,  there 
is  no  smoke  pall !  Under  a  clear  sky  and  with  perpetual 
sunshine,  it  is  impossible  to  feel  oppressed.  The 
air — remember  the  city  stands  well  over  7000  feet 
high — higher,  if  I  recollect  rightly,  than  St.  Moritz — 
is  light,  invigorating.  The  weakly  suffer  from  the 
altitude;  but  if  your  lungs  and  heart  are  sound,  and 
if  you  are  reasonably  careful  about  what  you  eat, 
drink  and  avoid,  you  thoroughly  enjoy  it. 

Next,  it  is  a  city  with  the  most  beautiful  setting 
imaginable.  At  a  distance  of  a  few  miles  it  is  sur- 
rounded by  mountains,  not  high  enough  to  be  op- 
pressive, as  they  are  in  Innsbruck;  near  enough  to 
give  one  a  perpetually  changing  kaleidoscope  of 
delight  as  one  watches  the  effect  of  sun  and  cloud  upon 
them  from  dawn  till  night.  Further,  the  bounty  of 
Nature  has  been  seconded  by  the  efforts  of  man. 

96 


MEXICO   CITY  97 

Under  President  Diaz,  and  chiefly  by  the  skill  of 
French-descended  Sefior  Limantour,  the  Mexican 
capital  was  laid  out  so  that  it  already  takes  rank, 
although  much  remains  still  unfinished,  as  one  of  the 
finest  in  the  world. 

I  think,  myself,  that  the  Paseo  de  la  Reforma  is, 
without  qualification,  the  finest  avenue  that  can  be 
seen  anywhere.  It  dwarfs  Unter  den  Linden.  It 
makes  even  the  Champs-Elys6es  seem  uninspired. 
As  one  drives  along  it  towards  the  Castle  of  Chapultepec, 
which  rises  at  one  end  on  a  green  hill  dripping  with 
flowers,  one  feels  in  the  thin  clear  air  of  nearly  eight 
thousand  feet  an  uplift  of  the  soul.  Against  the 
mountain  beyond  the  Castle  are  silhouetted  the  fine 
sculptured  figures  raised  on  lofty  columns  to  mark 
stages  in  Mexican  history.  No  capital  is  richer  in 
splendid  monuments.  The  semicircle  of  white  marble 
columns  backing  the  statue  of  Juarez  and  backed  in 
turn  by  the  green  shady  Alameda  (park)  is  perfect  in 
nobility  and  grace.  There  are  many  buildings,  too, 
of  a  beauty  that  can  never  be  forgotten — the  Jockey 
Club,  an  ancient  palace,  entirely  covered  with  blue 
and  white  tiles;  the  Venetian  Gothic  Post  Office, 
wonderful  in  its  way;  the  National  Library  with  its 
tiled  dome.  Architects  and  sculptors  have  been  in- 
spired by  the  spaciousness  of  the  landscape,  and  espe- 
cially by  the  two  volcanoes,  Popocatepetl  and  Ixtac- 
cihuatl,  whose  white  summits  shine  with  unearthly 
majesty  against  the  brilliantly  blue  sky. 

All  down  the  Paseo  are  fine  houses,  and  on  either 
side  stretch  the  Colonias  (suburbs),  which  sprang  up 
when  the  city  itself  became  full  of  business  houses. 
In  these  Colonias  every  style  of  architecture  runs  riot. 
A  grey  stone  battlemented  castle  shoulders  a  modern 


98  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

villa;  a  row  of  neat  little  "residences"  leads  to  a 
closely  shuttered  Spanish  "  casa,"  next  to  which  may 
stand  a  French  chateau,  with  pink  geranium  climbing 
up  its  walls,  or  a  rambling  bungalow  almost  hidden 
by  purple  bougainvillia. 

On  Sunday  evening  every  one  who  owns  a  car  or 
carriage,  every  one  who  can  afford  to  take  a  "  coche  " 
for  two  hours,  drives  on  the  Paseo  and  then  in  San 
Francisco  Street,  where  there  is  a  tight  jam,  only 
allowing  the  procession  to  move  on  a  few  steps  every 
now  and  then.  I  cannot  quite  understand  the  enjoy- 
ment of  this,  but  it  happens  in  every  town  of  any 
pretensions ;  it  is  ingrained  in  the  habits  of  all  Mexicans. 
Afterwards  at  the  garish,  noisy  restaurants  of  second- 
class  character  they  dine,  or  rather  sup,  for  their 
habit  is  to  eat  a  large  meal  in  the  middle  of  the  day 
and  light  ones  both  in  the  morning  and  at  night. 
You  may  often  see  the  President  in  one  of  these 
cafe's,  drowning  the  cares  of  office  and  entertaining 
himself  with  his  friends.  He  certainly  has  courage, 
this  old  general  with  the  alert  manner  and  the  bright 
bird-like  eyes.  The  Presidential  Guards  are  a  fine 
regiment.  In  their  grey  undress  uniform  they  look 
very  smart ;  in  their  parade  kit  they  are  magnificent. 
But,  excepting  State  occasions,  they  are  very  seldom 
seen  with  the  President.  He  prefers  to  pass  unnoticed, 
a  citizen-President  indeed. 

Seeing  him  in  a  glittering  "  pasteleria,"  or  at  his 
own  particular  table  in  Bach's  Restaurant  between 
eight  and  nine,  one  is  brought  back  with  a  jerk  to 
a  sense  of  the  contrasts  in  this  gay  and  charming  city. 
Only  a  year  ago  Gustavo  Madero,  brother  to  the 
President,  was  sitting  at  one  of  these  tables  when 
a  file  of  soldiers  entered,  arrested  him,  and  took  him 


MEXICO   CITY  99 

away  to  be  shot.  What  we  call  "  civilization  "  is 
here  only  a  sham-front  plastered  on. 

There  is  a  fine  Parliament  House  (and  another  still 
finer  a-building)  with  all  the  outward  and  visible 
signs  of  democracy.  Call-over  of  members  is  taken 
at  each  sitting.  Those  who  are  absent  must  offer 
excuses  and  send  their  "  supplentes  "  (substitutes). 
Every  member  has  a  substitute,  elected  at  the  same 
time  as  himself.  President  and  Vice-President  are 
changed  every  month.  Nothing  lacks,  on  paper,  to 
make  it  appear  that  Mexico  has  an  advanced  system  of 
Parliamentary  government.  Yet  a  few  months  ago 
four  members  who  were  obnoxious  to  the  President 
"  disappeared/'  no  one  daring  to  ask  what  had  become 
of  them;  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  session  in 
November  1913,  no  speech  was  made  in  the  Chamber 
of  Deputies  for  ten  days.  Without  a  word  the  members 
passed  everything  presented  to  them.  They  were  like 
automata.  They  had  nothing  to  say. 

There  are  handsome  Government  offices  with  richly- 
decorated  halls  and  audience  chambers.  But,  as  we 
pass  them  a  friend  who  is  agent  for  several  leading 
British  firms  tells  me  how  a  Minister  bought  certain 
goods  for  £9,000  and  had  the  bill  made  out  for  £30,000, 
and  how  another  high  official  tried  to  get  £80  machines 
charged  up  at  £1,000  each,  so  that  he  could  pocket  the 
difference.  This  is  so  usual  a  mode  of  doing  business 
that  the  official  was  astonished  when  my  friend 
declined.  Looking  up  with  delighted  eyes  at  the 
Post  Office,  sightly  without  and  a  marvel  of  cleanly 
convenience  within,  I  recall  the  warning  given  me 
not  to  post  letters  there  for  England.  "  Registering 
them  is  useless.  It  only  calls  attention  to  them. 
Send  them  by  hand  to  Vera  Cruz  and  have  them 


100  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

posted  on  the  mail  steamer.  That  is  the  only  safe 
way.'* 

Here  is  another  contrast.  The  police  of  the  capital 
are  a  fine  body.  Armed  with  revolvers  as  well  as 
truncheons,  they  keep  excellent  order.  They  are 
polite,  helpful,  quick  to  take  the  stranger's  part. 
Yet  the  police-court  system  is  so  antiquated  that  no 
one  will  stop  to  assist  the  victim  of  a  street  accident 
for  fear  of  being  arrested  as  a  witness  and  kept  in 
solitary  confinement  for  many  hours.  That  is  the 
regular  proceeding. 

Even  the  physical  contrasts  are  disconcerting. 
Although  the  sun  is  very  hot  in  the  day-time,  morning 
and  evening  are  so  cold  that  an  overcoat  is  necessary, 
as  well  as  heavy  winter  underclothing.  It  froze  one 
night ;  the  next  day  I  had  a  bowl  of  strawberries  and 
cream  for  thirty  centavos  (sixpence) — delicious  straw- 
berries too.  This  was  in  a  popular  restaurant  much 
frequented  by  officers  and  politicians.  It  was  full 
and  seemed  gay.  Yet  all  the  talk  I  heard  was  of  the 
busy  press-gang  stealing  men  off  the  streets  for  the 
army  by  night ;  of  rifles  and  provisions  stored  away 
in  houses  and  offices  "  in  case  .  .  ." ;  of  the  distrust 
which  had  sprung  up  of  the  bank-notes  for  ten  and 
twenty  shillings  which  are  the  usual  Mexican  currency ; 
of  silver  pesos  hoarded  for  fear  the  banks  might  fail. 

These  are  the  contrasts  which  darken  the  fair 
features  of  Mexico  City  with  a  sinister  expression. 
Some  of  the  buildings  still  await  repair  which  were 
shattered  by  the  cannonade  of  February  1913,  when 
the  "  Maderistas  "  and  the  "  Felixistas  "  fought  for 
ten  days  in  the  city,  with  guns  planted  on  every  point 
of  vantage  and  rifle-fire  sweeping  the  principal  streets. 
What  happened  then  might  easily  happen  again, 


MEXICO   CITY  101 

though  next  time  the  foreign  colonies  will  be  prepared. 
The  British,  at  any  rate,  have  enrolled  a  regiment  of 
defenders,  have  stored  up  arms  and  ammunition,  have 
laid  in  provisions  against  a  siege.  The  Germans,  I 
believe,  have  a  similar  preparation.  In  all  the  country 
houses  I  went  to  I  was  shown  rifles  hidden  away. 

Of  minor  contrasts  there  are  many,  and  they  are 
often  vastly  comical,  as,  for  instance,  a  short-haired, 
wild-looking  Aztec  woman  followed  through  a  smart 
residential  quarter  by  a  pet  lamb.  Within  a  few  yards 
of  palaces  there  are  pestilent,  filthy  slums.  Poked 
in  beside  gaudy  restaurants  are  frowsy,  smelly 
"  pulque  "  shops.  ("  Pulque  "  is  the  liquor  taken 
from  the  huge,  spiky-leaved  maguey  plant :  fresh, 
there  is  little  harm  in  it,  but  it  ferments  into  a  strongly 
alcoholic  drink.)  Strolling  along  the  fashionable 
streets  among  a  throng  of  highly-dressed,  strongly- 
scented  fashionable  people,  will  be  indescribably 
ragged  Indians,  not  in  the  least  abashed.  There  is 
a  good  deal  of  genuine  "  democracy  "  here  in  spite 
of  the  hollo wness  of  the  constitution.  There  is  more 
courtesy,  too,  than  in  America  or  Europe,  less  grabbing 
after  and  toadying  to  wealth,  more  general  sharing 
in  the  simple  pleasures  of  existence,  such  as  idling, 
gossiping,  lounging,  and  looking  on  at  the  spectacle 
of  life.  Therefore  Mexico  is  to  the  traveller  a  pleasant er 
country  than  the  United  States — more  varied,  more 
picturesque,  in  the  deeper  sense  more  civilized. 
Americans  who  live  there  admit  this.  They  do  not 
like  the  idea  of  returning  home.  I  have  heard  English 
people  say  they  could  never  settle  down  in  England 
after  living  in  Mexico,  and  no  German  dreams  of  going 
back  to  Germany.  The  charm  is  partly  the  sunshine, 
partly  the  ease  of  life  (it  is  more  easy  to  make  a  living 


102  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

in  Mexico  than  elsewhere) ;  for  women,  partly  the 
pleasant  dreaming  idleness  in  which  they  can  pass 
a  good  deal  of  time  without  wanting  occupation. 
The  beauty  of  the  country  comes  in  too,  the  pictorial 
quality  of  the  people;  the  fact,  also,  that  every 
foreigner  in  the  country  has  to  justify  his  existence, 
and  therefore,  in  all  likelihood,  be  interesting  in  some 
way. 

It  is  a  country  different  from  other  countries,  and 
especially  is  "  Mehico "  a  city  different  from  any 
other  city.  Although  there  are  so  many  Americans 
doing  business  in  it,  it  has  happily  not  become  in 
the  least  "  Americanizado."  Its  life  is  active,  but 
not  strenuous.  Even  in  these  anxious  times  its  gaiety 
is  irrepressible.  The  very  uncertainty  of  the  Mexican 
situation  is  turned  to  humorous  account.  "  What  is 
the  latest  from  the  rumour-factory?  "  has  become  the 
usual  salutation.  Absurd  stories  are  invented  and 
set  afloat  among  the  sinister  whispers  which  perturb 
the  credulous.  Since  the  distractions  offered  are 
meagre,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  club-life,  and  therefore 
a  great  deal  of  gossip.  That  explains  the  rapidity 
with  which  these  fairy-tales,  once  started,  go  the 
round  of  the  city.  The  theatres  are  very  poor ;  there 
is  no  music  save  that  of  military  bands  in  the  Alameda 
and  the  plazas.  Mexicans  and  foreigners  alike  are 
thrown  back  upon  themselves  for  entertainment,  and 
they  find  it  largely  in  their  clubs.  There  is  a  very 
comfortable  British  Club  in  a  charming  old  "  palacio  " 
with  sunny  balconies  around  its  grey  courtyard. 
There  is  a  handsome  French  club,  two  German  clubs, 
a  Spanish,  an  American;  and,  of  course,  most 
fashionable  of  all,  there  is  the  Jockey  Club,  where 


MEXICO   CITY  103 

the  Mexican  aristocracy  sit  in  the  doorway  before  dinner 
to  watch  the  midday  throng  in  the  Avenida  de  San 
Francisco. 

"  Watching  "  in  any  Mexican  town  is  an  amusement 
of  which  the  natives  never  tire.  They  like  to  live  close 
to  the  centre,  so  as  not  to  miss  anything.  "  Looking 
out  of  window  "  takes  up  a  great  deal  in  a  Mexican 
lady's  life.  They  do  not  go  out  much,  but  they 
stand  on  their  balconies  for  hours  at  a  stretch.  To 
the  foreigner  "  watching "  soon  becomes  equally 
attractive.  In  no  country  is  the  stream  of  existence 
so  diverting,  so  varied. 

Spend  a  day  with  me,  strolling  and  sitting.  Let  us 
be  "  lagartijos,"  which  means  literally  lizards,  but  is 
slang  for  those  who  lounge  unoccupied  in  the  sun. 
Starting  out  early,  we  have  no  sun  as  yet  to  lounge  in. 
The  morning  is  fresh,  even  chilly.  We  are  glad  of 
our  overcoats.  In  the  streets  people  are  hurrying  to 
their  work — to  keep  themselves  warm.  The  Indians 
pull  their  gaudy  blankets  (sarapes)  up  round  their 
noses.  Lithe,  brown  bakers'  men  are  trotting  about 
with  huge  baskets  of  rolls  balanced  on  their  heads. 
The  knife-grinder's  musical  pan-pipe  reminds  one  of 
"  Punch  and  Judy."  The  dustman  tinkles  his  warning 
bell. 

Already  the  street-corner  merchants  are  setting  up 
their  sweetmeat  trays.  Later,  they  will  be  dusting 
their  candied  fruits  and  dangerous-looking  pastries, 
and  cakes  of  almond  paste,  and  keeping  the  flies  off 
with  a  whisk;  but  there  are  no  flies  out  yet.  Early 
riders,  their  cheeks  aglow,  come  clattering  home  to 
breakfast  from  the  Wood  of  Chapultepec,  a  most 
enagaging  park  beyond  the  Castle.  Dainty  figures, 


104  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

their  heads  shrouded  by  the  graceful  black  mantilla, 
click  their  heels  demurely  on  the  way  back  from  daily 
Mass. 

Notice  how  easy  it  is  to  find  one's  way  about.  At 
every  corner  the  street-name  is  printed  clear,  in  striking 
contrast  to  the  custom  of  American  cities.  It  is 
easy  to  ride  about  too.  Cabs  are  cheap;  one  shilling 
for  any  drive  in  town ;  two  shillings  an  hour  anywhere. 
Taxicabs  are  cheap  as  well,  but  you  take  your  life  in 
your  hand  every  time  you  use  them.  By  the  side  of 
Mexican  chauffeurs  Jehu  would  have  been  reckoned  an 
old  lady's  coachman.  The  electric  street-cars  add 
to  the  dangers  of  the  streets,  though  their  swiftness 
is  exceedingly  useful,  and  they  run  far  out  into  the 
country.  We  will  take  one  to  the  Country  Club  now 
that  the  sun  is  hot  and  the  streets  are  losing  their 
animation.  In  the  shade  of  some  trees  at  a  corner  a 
lazy  group  watches  a  tiny  Indian  shuffle  his  feet  while 
his  father  or  elder  brother  plays  a  mouth-organ  for 
him  to  "  dance  "  to.  Now  the  sunny  side  of  the 
street  is  avoided — think  of  it,  in  mid-November  ! 
Overcoats  and  blankets  have  disappeared.  You  envy 
the  Indians  their  high-coned,  broad-brimmed  hats 
and  sketchy  costumes. 

The  car-line  runs  first  through  slums,  giving  glimpses 
of  dark,  shuddery  interiors,  squalid  "  mixed  stores," 
and  "  pulque  joints,"  each  with  a  high-sounding, 
often  flowery  name.  Here  is  "  The  Dream  of  Love," 
near  it  "  The  Men  without  Fear  " ;  then,  oddest  of 
all,  I  have  seen  "  Las  Emociones  "  (The  Emotions), 
though  "  The  Early  Mornings  of  April "  ran  it  close. 
I  believe  "  pulque  "  is  capable  of  supplying  all  the 
emotions  one  could  want ! 


MEXICO   CITY  105 

Now  we  are  out  of  town,  amid  broad  meadows  where 
cattle  graze.  All  around  the  mountains  glitter,  and 
the  two  snowy-peaked  volcanoes  peer  through  their 
comforters  of  cloud.  A  pleasant  place,  the  Country 
Club ;  a  spacious  Spanish  house,  with  golf-links  (where 
are  there  not  golf-links?),  lawn-tennis  courts,  croquet 
lawns,  and  so  on.  We  lunch  on  a  cool  "  stoop," 
walk  round  to  admire  the  billiard-table  smoothness 
of  the  "  greens,"  look  at  the  big  ball-room,  where 
there  is  dancing  on  Sunday  afternoons,  and  start 
back. 

On  the  way  we  will  take  in  the  picturesque  Indian 
village  called  Santa  Anita,  where  dark-skinned  youths 
and  maids  dance  on  holidays  and  sit  in  flowery  arbours 
and  consume  large  quantities  of  pulque  and  beer.  It 
lies  by  the  Viga  Canal,  one  of  the  prettiest  sights  in 
early  morning  when  Indian  punts  are  bringing  up 
flowers  and  vegetables  to  the  city  markets.  Here  are 
some  now,  laden  with  fragrant  hay  and  slowly  poled 
along  under  the  trees  which  overhang  the  water  from 
the  canal  banks.  We  look  at  the  gardens,  which,  it  is 
said,  once  floated  on  the  waters  of  Mexico's  rich  valley, 
and  then  hurry  on  so  as  to  see  the  city  at  its  gayest  on 
this  winter  afternoon. 

The  three  parallel  main  streets,  Fifth  of  May,  San 
Francisco,  and  Sixteenth  of  September,  are  all  lively. 
Pretty  ladies  in  Paris  frocks  are  driving  in  splendidly- 
horsed  victorias  and  broughams.  The  confectioners' 
shops  are  crowded.  The  big  "  stores  "  are  doing  brisk 
business.  Brown,  barefooted  children  are  pestering 
people  with  lottery  tickets  or  hawking  evening  papers 
with  pathetic  haunting  cry.  Beggars  exhibit  their 
deformities  with  revolting  candour.  Smart  Mexican 


106  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

men,  young  and  old,  are  bowing,  waving  their  hands 
with  the  wiggling  of  the  ringers  peculiar  to  this  country, 
talking  with  strident  voice  and  vigorous  gesture. 
Every  one  is  out  to  see  and  be  seen. 

The  sun  sinks,  and  for  a  few  minutes  a  red  glow 
is  reflected  upon  the  eastern  sky.  Then  suddenly  it 
is  dark.  The  clusters  of  street-lights  flash  into 
radiance.  The  shop  windows  add  to  the  blaze  of 
light.  Electric  signs,  horrid  importation  from  New 
York  and  Chicago,  force  themselves  upon  the  atten- 
tion. Offices  at  closing-time  pour  forth  clerks  and 
typists  to  swell  the  throng.  When  we  are  tired  of  the 
brightness  and  the  chatty  we  can  stroll  along  to  the 
dark,  quiet  alleys  of  the  Alameda,  where  the  white 
marble  of  the  unfinished  National  Theatre  gleams 
ghostly  through  the  darkness.  Will  it  ever  be 
finished?  Quien  sabe?  Who  can  tell?  Not  a 
hammer-blow  falls  now,  either  there  or  at  the  half-built 
Parliament  House. 

They  tell  of  a  Chinese  Envoy  who  came  to  represent 
his  country  at  the  centenary  of  Mexican  Independence, 
just  before  the  revolutions  began.  He  saw  the  theatre. 
"  Beautiful !  "  he  said,  "  but  .what  a  pity  it  not 
finished/'  He  looked  at  the  Parliament  House. 
"  Magnificent,  but  what  a  pity  not  finished  !  "  A 
third  building  still  in  construction  drew  the  same  regret. 
Then  he  was  introduced  to  President  Diaz,  very  old 
and  very  deaf.  "  A  wonderful  man,"  he  said.  '  What 
a  pity  he  finished  !  " 

Yes,  it  was  the  "  finishing  "  of  Diaz  which  led  to 
Mexico's  troubles  to-day,  and  for  three  years  past. 
A  hundred  thousand  men  killed,  a  hundred  million 
pounds'  worth  of  property  destroyed !  How  can 


MEXICO   CITY  107 

"  Mehico  "  take  it  so  calmly,  sipping  its  chocolate, 
tossing  off  its  "  copitas,"  flirting  and  gossiping  and 
dressing-up?  It  must  be  the  exhilarating  climate. 
How  could  anything  greatly  disturb  one  in  such 
sunshine  and  such  air? 


XI 

THE   NEMESIS  OF  PATERNALISM 

I  WAS  told  when  I  came  to  Mexico  City  that  I  had 
arrived  "just  in  time."  No  one  talked  of  anything 
but  "  the  crisis/'  Every  half -hour  a  fresh  rumour 
was  started,  to  go  its  rounds  among  Mexicans  and 
foreigners  alike,  then  to  be  forgotten  amid  the  rush  of 
newer  lies.  There  are  a  number  of  excellent  clubs  in 
the  capital.  Several  of  them  were  good  enough  to 
extend  their  hospitality  to  me.  I  heard  all  the  stories 
that  were  set  going  as  soon  as  they  were  born.  In  few 
cases  were  they  deliberately  invented.  They  were  the 
result  of  exaggeration  and  misunderstanding.  Usually 
they  belonged  to  the  most  impossible  category :  An 
American  warship  had  been  blown  up;  Mr.  Lind  had 
been  assassinated;  the  President  had  ordered  the 
American  Embassy  staff  to  leave,  and  so  on.  They 
would  not  be  worth  mention,  save  for  this — they 
illustrate  the  state  of  mind  I  found  in  the  capital ;  the 
nervous,  anxious  condition  of  all  who  had  families 
with  them  and  a  livelihood  to  lose.  In  almost  every 
office  I  entered  I  heard  the  same  tale  of  "  business 
at  a  standstill."  Almost  every  conversation  ended 
with  the  same  despairing  query :  "  Can  you  see  any 
way  out  of  it  ?  " 

The  "  Docena  Tragica  "  (Tragic  Ten  Days),  as  they 
call  the  period  of  street  fighting,  in  which  the  weak 
and  disappointing  regime  of  Madero  culminated, 

to! 


THE   NEMESIS   OF  PATERNALISM      109 

shook  the  nerves  of  the  people.  Long  suspense  and 
uncertainty  have  kept  them  cruelly  on  the  rack  ever 
since.  All  blame  the  Washington  Government  for 
their  sufferings.  The  Americans  are  loudest  in  their 
condemnation  of  what  is  commonly  known  among 
them  as  "  grape  juice  policy."  Grape  juice  is  a  non- 
alcoholic drink  reported  to  be  used  by  President 
Wilson  and  Mr.  Bryan,  who  are  teetotalers.  All  say 
that  if  General  Huerta  had  been  recognized  by  the 
United  States,  he  would  have  been  able  to  suppress 
the  revolution ;  to  save  many  hundred  lives  and  many 
million  pounds  of  property,  and  to  restore  prosperity 
by  giving  the  country  peace. 

Whether  this  would  have  happened  it  is  impossible 
to  say.  I  am  inclined  to  doubt  it  for  this  reason,  that 
the  very  people  who  express  this  view  also  say  that 
the  Federal  officers  are  not  trying  to  suppress  the 
revolution.  From  generals  to  lieutenants  they  are, 
so  the  story  goes,  making  money  out  of  their  commands, 
and  have  no  wish  for  peace.  That  certainly  is  a 
monstrous  charge  to  bring  against  a  whole  army, 
but  it  is  hard  to  escape  from  the  conviction  that  there 
is  some  truth  in  it.  The  Pais  (Fatherland)  is  an 
organ  of  the  Catholic  Party;  one  of  the  best  daily 
newspapers  in  Mexico.  A  little  while  ago  it  wrote — 

"  For  some  time  past  there  has  been  a  thought  in 
the  public  mind,  an  observation  that  affords  the 
clue,  at  least  in  part,  to  our  chronic  anarchy.  Nobody, 
so  far,  has  given  utterance  to  this  thought;  but  as 
the  necessity  is  urgent,  as  the  rebellion  is  spreading 
and  assuming  sinister  proportions,  as  it  has  become 
absolutely  necessary  to  secure  peace,  we  will  denounce 
the  fact,  holding  it  up  to  the  eyes  of  the  Government 
and  the  public  in  all  its  '  canaillesque  '  magnitude. 


110  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

The  revolution  has  been  and  continues  to  be  a  brilliant 
business  proposition,  an  immense  source  of  profit  to 
many  military  chiefs.  In  the  time  of  General  Diaz 
this  was  already  so  for  some  officers,  who  collected  full 
pay  for  battalions  and  regiments  when  every  one 
knew  that  the  lists  were  padded  with  many  fictitious 
names,  and  that  if  the  officer  claimed  pay  for  a  hundred, 
the  actual  number  was,  perhaps,  seventy;  and  so, 
too,  in  the  matter  of  fodder  for  horses,  etc.,  there  was 
always  something  in  every  deal  for  the  officer.  Thus 
the  War  Department  came  to  be  a  good  mine,  making 
many  poor  devils  rich.  So  that  when  General  Diaz 
thought  that  he  had  an  army  of  more  than  20,000 
men  to  fight  the  revolution  of  1910,  it  turned  out 
that  he  had  only  14,000,  the  remainder  existing  only 
on  the  pay-rolls.  The  profits  of  the  business  have 
multipled  a  hundredfold  of  late,  and  it  would  be  worth 
while  for  the  War  Department  to  take  note,  and  devise 
a  prompt  and  efficacious  remedy." 

Soon  after  that  article  appeared  a  Federal  general 
was  put  under  arrest.  He  was  confined  to  barracks 
upon  some  charge  unf ormulated ;  yet  I  was  assured 
by  one  who  had  seen  it,  that  a  letter  was  written  by 
the  Minister  of  War  assuring  him  that  he  need  have 
no  fear  as  to  the  upshot  of  his  arrest.  In  a  country 
like  this  the  rules  of  probability  are  of  no  service. 
Not  only  are  they  of  no  service ;  they  are  misleading. 
Mexicans  themselves  assert  that  there  is  no  such 
quality  as  patriotism  among  them.  They  include 
their  public  men,  with  few  exceptions,  in  a  general 
indictment  for  stealing.  Foreigners  decline  to  credit 
the  good  faith  of  any  single  one.  On  general  grounds 
one  must  discount  such  sweeping  charges,  but  it  is 
impossible,  in  the  face  of  evidence  offered,  to  set 


THE  NEMESIS   OF  PATERNALISM      111 

them  altogether  aside.  If  civil  war  drags  on  now 
because  it  is  profitable,  might  it  not  equally  have 
been  prolonged  although  General  Huerta  had  been 
recognized  by  the  United  States? 

It  is  a  hard  thing  to  say,  but  the  more  one  pries 
into  the  records  of  public  men  in  Mexico  the  stronger 
becomes  the  doubt  whether  any  Government  can  keep 
the  country  quiet  unless  it  be  supported,  advised,  and 
supervised  by  some  elder  brother  or  brothers,  until 
its  evil  traditions  and  practices  have  been  purged 
away.  In  the  spending  departments  dishonesty  is 
not  the  exception,  but  the  rule.  The  reason  why 
revolutions  are  started  is  simply  that  the  leaders' 
palms  itch  for  the  public  purse.  The  way  to  stop 
revolution,  therefore,  is  to  stop  thieving.  To  use 
a  shop  metaphor,  only  a  cash  register  can  put  an  end 
to  pilfering  from  the  till. 

Theft  is  an  unpleasant  word,  and  it  is  only  fair  to 
say  that  no  ignominy  attaches  to  corruption  in  Mexico, 
because  no  one  in  office  is  expected  to  be  anything 
but  corrupt.  Porfirio  Diaz  kept  order  by  allowing 
a  few  to  enrich  themselves,  and  shooting  any  one  who 
objected  or  tried  to  enter  the  privileged  "  ring." 
But  the  day  for  that  is  past,  and,  in  any  case,  there  is 
no  Porfirio  Diaz  now.  The  best  hope  of  good  adminis- 
tration which  would  take  away  the  incentive  to  rebel, 
lies  in  making  it  impossible  for  peculation  to  continue. 
Material  ordered  for  public  needs  must  be  paid  for  at 
its  real  price.  A  stop  must  be  put  to  the  practice  of 
requiring  two  bills,  one  showing  secretly  the  sum  which 
the  seller  receives,  the  other  openly  debiting  the 
Treasury  with  a  larger  amount. 

It  is  hard  to  see  how  financial  methods  can  be 
cleansed,  except  by  the  means  which  have  been 


112  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

employed  in  Egypt.  Many  Mexicans,  after  their  first 
shock  of  repugnance,  would  be  inclined  to  rejoice  at 
some  such  form  of  peaceful  intervention  if  the  European 
Powers  would  take  part  in  it  along  with  the  United 
States.  Mexico  does  not  like  the  Americans;  the 
"  Gringoes,"  as  they  are  usually  called,  a  nickname 
which  dates  back  to  the  war  of  1846.  The  American 
soldiers  then  had  a  favourite  marching  song,  "  Green 
grow  the  leaves  of  the  hawthorn  tree."  The  Mexicans 
coined  from  it  their  term -of  contemptuous  abuse. 

Nor  are  the  Americans  merely  disliked;  they  are 
despised.  Ignorant  Mexicans,  who  form  nineteen- 
twentieths  of  the  nation,  think  they  could  defeat 
them  in  war.  With  the  United  States  alone  guiding 
Mexico  along  the  path  of  constitutional,  and,  what  is 
of  more  importance,  honest  government,  there  would 
certainly  be  friction  and  quite  possibly  fighting. 
The  combined  might  of  the  Great  Powers  would  over- 
awe a  people  which  has  a  great  respect  for  Europe  and 
a  wholesome  timidity  as  to  what  Europe  might  do. 
There  would  be  no  question  of  any  European  country 
acquiring  "  a  controlling  influence  "  in  Latin- America ; 
so  the  Monroe  doctrine  need  not  stand  in  the  way  of 
such  a  solution.  It  would  be  at  once  a  statesmanlike 
and  prudent  act  of  Mr.  Wilson,  whose  proceedings 
have  intensified  the  hatred  in  which  his  countrymen 
are  held,  to  calm  Mexican  opinion  and  to  make  his 
own  task  easier,  by  permitting  other  Powers  to  lend 
their  aid.  Everybody's  "  face  would  be  saved,"  and 
there  would  be  real  hope  of  lasting  improvement. 

The  history  of  the  country,  during,  say,  the  last 
seven  years  has  convinced  those  who  have  watched 
closely  that,  without  assistance,  it  will  be  long  before 
she  can  secure  her  own  peace  and  the  safety  of  foreign 


THE  NEMESIS   OF  PATERNALISM      113 

interests  within  her  border;  interests  which,  seeing 
that  nearly  all  business  is  controlled  by  foreigners, 
are  very  large.  Here  in  the  capital,  as  elsewhere 
throughout  the  Republic,  the  hardware  trade  is  mainly 
in  German  hands;  the  drapery,  wholesale  and  retail, 
in  French;  mining  is  chiefly  carried  on  by  British  or 
American  companies ;  the  oilfields  are  being  developed 
by  the  same  agency.  The  banks  are  largely  under 
French  management,  even  the  National  Bank. 
Machinery  is  supplied  by  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States.  The  names  of  business  houses  are  seldom 
Mexican  names.  The  National  Railways  are  managed 
by  capable  Americans,  with  Mr.  E.  N.  Brown,  a 
Napoleon  among  railway  men,  at  their  head. 

There  are,  roughly,  100,000  foreign  residents,  and 
something  like  £350,000,000  of  foreign  capital  in- 
vested in  the  country.  It  cannot  be  permitted  to 
drift  into  a  state  of  permanent  civil  warfare,  which, 
if  left  to  itself,  is  what  it  seems  likely  to  do.  Not  one 
in  a  thousand  of  the  population  has  any  idea  of  what 
government  by  the  people  means.  The  system  cannot, 
therefore,  be  "  democratic  "  in  our  sense  of  the  word. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  impossible,  now  that  a  middle 
class  has  been  evolved  and  the  spirit  of  "  liberty  " 
awakened,  to  go  back  to  despotism  based  eventually 
upon  murder. 

One  hears  constantly  in  Mexico  that  "  these  people 
can  be  kept  in  order  only  by  a  fearless  and  pitiless 
tyrant,"  and  to  this  is  generally  added,  "  like  old 
Porfirio  Diaz."  That  is  why  foreign  opinion  in  Mexico 
has  been,  speaking  broadly,  unanimously,  until  lately, 
in  favour  of  General  Huerta.  But  when  the  career  of 
President  Diaz  is  examined  with  an  eye  not  blinded 
by  the  glory  which  the  world  accorded  to  him,  one  is 
i 


114  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

forced  to  doubt  whether  he  was  really  such  a  "  saviour 
of  his  country  "  as  for  a  long  time  we  all  supposed. 
He  certainly  gave  it  thirty  years  of  peace.  That,  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  foreigner  making  his  fortune 
in  Mexico,  was  everything.  It  was  an  achievement, 
too,  which  revealed  a  strong  character,  a  resolute 
will. 

But,  while  it  was  good  for  his  country  to  be  at  peace, 
while  the  alternative  of  "  pan  6  palos  "  (earn  your 
living  quietly,  or  look  out  !)  allowed  the  riches  of 
Mexico  to  be  developed,  the  "  Much^"  administraci6n 
y  poco  politica  "  of  the  Diaz  regime  kept  the  people  in 
political  swaddling  clothes  and  took  no  thought  for 
the  morrow,  when  the  strong  hand  should  have  relaxed 
its  grip.  Diaz  was  like  a  father  who  does  not  realize 
that  his  sons  and  daughters  are  growing  up;  who 
keeps  them  in  subjection;  makes  all  decisions  for 
them  and  thinks  that  his  duty  lies  only  in  giving 
them  a  comfortable  home.  When  the  guiding  and 
restraining  arm  of  such  a  father  is  removed  his  children 
are  unfit  for  the  battle  of  life;  they  are  easily  de- 
ceived ;  they  rush  into  excesses  of  every  kind.  That 
was  exactly  what  happened  to  Mexico  when  the 
smouldering  resentment  against  "  Paternalism  "  was 
fanned  into  flame  by  the  Socialist  pamphlets  of  Ricardo 
Flores  Magon  and  the  eloquence  of  Madero. 

Although  it  was  what  might  have  been  expected, 
it  took  everybody  by  surprise.  In  1910  Mexico 
celebrated  with  pride  and  splendour  the  centenary 
of  her  liberation  from  Spain.  The  sky  seemed  clear. 
I  recall  a  chapter  in  a  "  standard  work  "  on  the  country 
published  about  that  time,  which  proved  by  all  the 
rules  of  logic  that  nothing  could  possibly  happen  to 
shake  the  edifice  of  "  national  greatness  "  erected  by 


THE  NEMESIS   OF  PATERNALISM      115 

Don  Porfirio's  statesmanship.  Now  that  edifice  lies 
in  ruins.  The  Mexicans  have  shown  by  their  savagery 
to  one  another,  by  the  readiness  with  which  they 
rushed  to  arms  at  the  instigation  of  ambitious  men, 
by  the  contempt  in  which  the  twelve  millions  of  Indians 
are  held  by  the  three  million  "  whites,"  by  the  failure 
of  Indians  and  Spaniards  alike  to  rise  to  a  conception 
of  patriotism,  that  President  Diaz  was  too  easily 
credited  with  having  "  created  a  nation  "  out  of  such 
stubborn  elements. 

Diaz  was  a  man  in  whom  there  were  streaks  of 
unmistakable  greatness.  He  was  a  great  policeman; 
but  a  statesman  would  have  built  upon  a  firmer 
foundation.  Then  he  would  not  in  his  age  have 
been  deceived  by  the  flatterers  and  plunderers  who 
governed  in  his  name.  The  "  Cientificos  "  were  able 
men;  not  all  of  them  were  dishonest.  They  encour- 
aged foreign  enterprise  and  made  the  City  of  Mexico 
a  great  capital.  But  the  depredations  of  a  few  and 
the  impositions  upon  the  people,  of  which  the  old 
President  knew  nothing,  raised  the  storm  by  which 
Madero  was  blown  violently  into  office  after  a  few 
months  of  revolt. 

It  was  a  disaster  that  power  fell  into  hands  so  unfit 
to  wield  it.  Madero,  like  most  Mexicans,  was  a  spend- 
thrift of  glowing  words.  He  was  neurotic,  a  faddist, 
incapable  of  thinking  clearly.  A  vegetarian  and  a 
spiritualist,  he  held  seances,  with  his  wife  as  medium, 
to  obtain  guidance  from  the  mighty  dead.  In  the 
Castle  of  Chapultepec  a  number  of  shelves  in  a  book- 
case still  harbour  his  psychic  library.  His  vagaries 
made  him  a  laughing-stock.  Meetingjone  day  a  man 
who  said  that  he  was  going  home  to  get  his  overcoat, 
Madero  replied,  "  Do  not  trouble  to  do  that.  I  will 


116  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

make  you  think  you  are  warm,"  and  in  the  street  he 
began  to  make  hypnotic  passes  ! 

His  family,  rich  landowners  and  manufacturers, 
were  of  tougher  fibre.  They  saw  their  opportunity, 
and  keeping  him  under  their  influence,  they  took  it. 
When  his  brother  Gustavo  resigned  after  eighteen 
months  of  office  the  Treasury  was  all  but  empty. 
He  had  spent  all  the  income  of  the  country  and  twelve 
million  pounds  beside.  Had  Madero  been  a  man  of 
even  moderate  ability  he  might  have  led  his  country 
safely  through  the  difficult  transition  from  despotism 
to  the  beginnings  of  constitutional  government.  But 
he  had  no  talent  for  affairs  of  State.  His  promises 
of  instant  land  gifts  and  radical  reform  were  unfulfilled. 
His  family  took  pains  to  prevent  any  one  from  seeing 
him  alone.  He  spent  hours  which  should  have  been 
devoted  to  public  business,  playing  dreamily  upon  the 
piano. 

The  bad  example  he  had  set  was  followed.  Armed 
revolution  stalked  abroad  again.  When  General  Felix 
Diaz,  with  the  support  of  the  wealthy,  had  rebelled 
for  the  second  time,  Madero  became,  according  to 
those  who  saw  him,  almost  insane.  In  a  fit  of  rage 
he  is  said  to  have  shot  with  his  own  hand  two  officers 
whose  advice  displeased  him.  He  was,  at  all  events, 
accessory  to  murders,  though  in  other  moods  he  was 
ready  to  spare  the  lives  even  of  those  whose  treason 
deserved  death. 

At  last,  when  he  had  few  adherents  left,  came  the 
"  tragic  ten  days  "  in  Mexico  City.  The  forces  of 
General  Felix  Diaz  and  General  Reyes  fought  with  the 
Army  in  the  streets  of  the  capital,  and  3000  people, 
mostly  unoffending  civilians  of  the  poorer  class,  were 
killed.  On  a  Sunday  morning  the  crowded  Plaza, 


THE  NEMESIS   OF  PATERNALISM      117 

where  the  palace  and  cathedral  stand,  was  suddenly 
swept  by  rifle  and  Maxim  gun-fire.  The  Felixistas 
were  then  in  the  city,  and  General  Reyes  had  come 
to  the  Plaza  expecting  the  palace  to  be  surrendered 
to  him.  But  there  was  no  reason  for  the  butchery  of 
a  thousand  men,  women,  and  children,  who  were 
simply  looking  on.  Whether  Madero,  whose  nerves 
had  by  this  time  given  way,  actually  ordered  it  or  not 
the  guilt  must  rest  partly  upon  him.  He  was  hence- 
forward set  down  as  impossible,  and  steps  were  taken 
to  secure  a  more  responsible  Government.  This  is 
where  General  Huerta  became  a  leading  figure  on  the 
scene. 


XII 

GENERAL  HUERTA 

THROUGH  the  crowded  Chamber  of  Deputies  on 
the  afternoon  of  November  20,  1913,  the  date  of  the 
opening  of  the  new  Mexican  Congress,  there  stepped 
lightly,  with  hand  upraised  to  acknowledge  the  cheers 
which  greeted  him,  a  tall,  thickly  built  soldier  whose 
briskness  belied  his  sixty-nine  years. 

He  wore  evening  dress,  as  did  all  the  members  of 
Parliament.  The  only  distinction  which  set  him 
apart  from  the  rest  was  a  broad  sash  of  the  Mexican 
national  colours  (red,  green,  and  white)  across  his  shirt- 
front.  His  dome-like  skull  gleamed  bald  under  the 
light.  Closely  cropped  grey  hair  covered  back  and 
sides.  His  complexion  was  dark,  but  it  was  only 
when  one  noticed  the  hand  against  the  white  shirt- 
cuff  that  one  realized  he  was  not  of  European  blood. 

Clearly  his  sight  was  very  weak;  he  added  to  the 
spectacles  he  wore  another  pair  before  he  began  to  read 
his  Message  to  the  new  Congress.  Yet,  unlike  those 
of  most  short-sighted  people,  his  eyes  were  unusually 
bright.  They  roved  hither  and  thither  like  the  eyes 
of  a  bird,  saving  a  square  and  dogged  face  (to  which 
photographs  seldom  do  justice)  from  the  reproach 
of  heaviness. 

Such,  in  outward  appearance,  is  President  Victoriano 
Huerta,  the  man  whose  doings  have  riveted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  world  for  a  year  past.  If  you  share  the 

EX! 


GENERAL   HUERTA  119 

official  American  opinion  he  is  a  criminal,  a  dissolute 
adventurer;  in  Mexican  phrase  a  "sin  verguenza," 
a  man  without  shame.  By  his  own  account  he  is 
a  patriot  who  only  clings  to  office  because  no  other 
Mexican  is  strong  enough  to  crush  the  revolution.  Up 
to  November  1913,  a  great  many  Mexicans,  with  nearly 
all  the  foreigners  in  Mexico,  endorsed  that  view. 
After  that  the  tide  began  to  turn  against  him. 

A  Mexican  who  under  President  Porfirio  Diaz  was 
very  highly  placed  said  to  me  :  "If  Huerta  had  any 
European  blood  in  him  one  would  be  forced  to  believe 
that  he  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Nero  and  Caligula." 
While  there  seemed  to  be  a  chance  of  his  restoring  peace 
his  less  desirable  qualities  were  glossed  over.  Now  that 
the  revolution  has  gained  ground,  now  that  he  has 
heavily  increased  taxation  in  order  to  refill  his  empty 
coffers,  now  that  Europe  has  declined  to  support  him 
against  the  United  States,  his  evil  manners  live  in  brass. 
A  few  murders  more  or  less,  a  habit  of  sitting  in  cafes 
and  restaurants,  disregard  of  the  Constitution,  a  trick 
of  treating  his  Ministers  as  if  they  were  office  boys — 
these  would  easily  have  been  forgiven  in  a  President 
who  really  dominated  the  situation.  President  Huerta 
unfortunately  does  not. 

He  is,  in  private,  a  jovial  companion.  His  humour 
is  not  exactly  delicate,  but  in  a  jolly,  bluff  old  soldier 
it  does  not  seem  out  of  place.  He  enjoys  chaff  and 
sometimes  carries  it  to  extremes.  At  a  British  gather- 
ing he  urged  marriage  upon  a  maiden  lady,  offering 
her  any  Insurrecto  leader  she  might  fancy.  At  a  dinner 
attended  by  many  foreign  diplomatists  he  extrava- 
gantly eulogized  the  British  race;  declared  that 
Shakespeare,  Wellington,  and  Nelson  were  the  greatest 
men  the  world  had  produced ;  and  called  Mr,  Roosevelt 


120  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

"  the  Zapata  of  the  United  States,"  Zapata  being  a 
"  rebel  "  leader  whose  name  has  become  a  byword 
for  brigandage  and  savagery. 

He  has  a  kind  heart ;  witness  his  visit  to  the  Country 
Club  of  the  capital,  when  he  gave  a  number  of  children 
rides  in  his  motor-car  and  handed  dollars  round  among 
them  before  he  left.  But  from  a  ruler  two  qualities 
are  demanded  in  which  he  is  lacking — dignity  and  tact. 
A  Frenchman  who  has  very  large  interests  in  Mexico 
went  to  see  him  about  some  proposed  harbour  works. 
Scarcely  letting  his  visitor  speak,  the  President  delivered 
a  long  rambling  lecture  about  the  part  of  the  country 
in  which  the  harbour  lies.  "  En  effet,"  this  Frenchman 
said  to  me,  "  c'est  un  naif."  (In  a  word,  he  is  a  stupid 
man.) 

It  is  "  naif  "  of  him  to  say,  in  moments  of  convivial 
frankness,  that  if  war  came  Mexico  would  invade  the 
United  States.  It  was  "  naif  "  to  make  an  appoint- 
ment with  Mr.  Lind,  President  Wilson's  unofficial 
envoy,  and  not  to  keep  it.  When  the  United  States 
suggested  that  he  should  take  notice  of  a  particularly 
horrible  outrage  and  hinted  that  the  perpetrators 
might  be  found  among  a  certain  group  of  soldiers,  it 
was  equally  "  naif  "  of  President  Huerta  to  offer  to 
shoot  them  all  without  delay  !  Wanting  in  tact,  too, 
was  his  getting  rid  of  a  refractory  Congress  by  packing 
the  members  who  opposed  him  into  tramway-cars 
and  carrying  them  oft  to  gaol.  As  I  sat  in  the  fine 
Parliament  building,  with  its  imposing  white  pillars, 
its  grave  officials,  its  rows  of  green  leather  arm-chairs 
and  desks,  I  found  it  hard  to  believe  that  this  Chamber, 
so  civilized  and  constitutional  in  outward  seeming, 
had  been  the  scene  six  weeks  before  of  wholesale  arrests. 
The  Mexican  Parliament  is  not,  it  is  tniQ,  quite 


GENERAL  HUERTA  121 

like  European  Assemblies.  The  members  smoke, 
for  instance;  the  liberal  supply  of  spittoons  on  the 
floor  of  the  House  would,  I  fear,  shock  Mr.  Asquith 
and  Mr.  Bonar  Law.  It  is  not  the  custom  either  of 
British  M.P.'s  to  keep  firearms  in  their  lockers.  When 
the  desks  of  the  arrested  deputies  were  searched  most 
of  them  were  found  to  contain  loaded  revolvers. 
But  on  the  surface  there  is  an  air  of  up-to-date  demo- 
cracy about  this  Congress  and  its  dwelling  which  is 
difficult  at  first  to  square  with  the  combined  methods 
of  Oliver  Cromwell  and  Lorenzo  de  Medici  as  practised 
by  President  Huerta. 

The  explanation  is  that  Mexico  never  has  had  more 
than  the  forms  of  constitutional  Government,  and  that 
President  Huerta  is  a  rough-and-ready  old  fighter 
who  has  no  respect  for  form.  He  much  prefers  living 
in  a  small  suburban  bungalow  to  wandering  through 
the  vast  halls  and  saloons  of  his  official  residence. 
He  would  rather  sit  with  a  few  friends  in  a  cafe  than 
entertain  high  society  at  formal  dinner-parties.  When 
he  comes  across  a  knot  he  cuts  it.  To  untie  it  would 
take  too  long.  When  a  few  plain  words  are  sufficient 
to  express  his  meaning  he  finds  circumlocution  tedious. 
A  story  is  told  of  his  giving  instructions  for  the  reply 
that  was  to  be  made  to  Mr.  Lind's  first  Note.  "  What 
shall  I  tell  him?  "  asked  a  perplexed  Foreign  Minister. 
"  Tell  him  to  go  to  the  devil,"  the  President  is  said  to 
have  answered;  "  but  put  it  in  diplomatic  language," 
he  added  soothingly  when  he  saw  the  look  of  dismay 
on  the  unfortunate  Minister's  face.  The  tale  may  not 
be  literally  true,  but  it  is  typical  of  the  man.  The 
methods  of  the  barrack-room  in  the  Council  Chamber — 
to  that  incongruity  are  attributable  both  his  weakness 
and  his  strength. 


122  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

To  discover  the  true  nature  of  this  man,  who  has 
become  so  prominent  a  figure  on  the  stage  of  nations, 
we  must  look  into  his  history,  not  only  since  he  suc- 
ceeded Madero  as  President  after  the  street  battle 
in  Mexico  City  last  spring,  but  before  that.  To  begin 
with,  he  is  of  pure  Indian  descent,  and  he  is  proud  of 
it.  '  Yo  soy  Indio,"  he  declared  at  dinner  given  by 
the  British  Club,  and  he  went  on,  in  one  of  his  bursts  of 
intimate  eloquence  :  "  My  people  are  young  compared 
with  your  Anglo-Saxon  race,  but  in  our  veins  there  are 
the  same  red  corpuscles  as  in  yours."  By  keeping  in 
mind  the  fact  that  he  is  Indian,  we  find  the  clue  to 
many  sides  of  his  character,  which  in  a  Mexican  of 
Spanish  or  even  mixed  origin  would  be  harder  to  explain. 
His  ability,  undoubtedly  remarkable,  is  closely  allied 
to  cunning.  His  intelligence  has  strange  limitations. 
While  at  times  he  can  behave  with  striking  dignity, 
he  allows  himself  in  moments  of  relaxation  to  forget  his 
high  position.  By  frequenting  cafe's,  some  of  them 
classed  as  disreputable,  he  has  offended  the  taste  of 
the  cultivated;  the  more  so  since  in  this  respect 
they  compare  him  unfavourably  with  President  Diaz, 
who  was  always  careful  to  uphold  the  best  traditions  of 
his  office. 

It  is  universally  believed  in  the  United  States 
that  he  is  a  heavy  drinker.  Here  there  is  exaggeration. 
That  he  drinks  a  large  quantity  of  alcohol  is  true. 
I  have  been  told  by  one  who  visited  him  in  the  early 
morning  that  his  breakfast  consisted  of  a  beaten-up 
raw  egg,  a  glass  of  claret,  and  a  glass  of  brandy.  But 
the  habit  is  more  easily  excusable  when  it  has  so  little 
effect,  either  mental  or  physical,  as  in  General  Huerta's 
case.  He  is  in  his  sixty-ninth  year  a  man  of  power- 
ful frame  and  vigorous  constitution.  Alcohol  seems 


GENERAL  HUERTA  128 

to  stimulate  him,  without  having  the  same  effect  as 
it  would  have  upon  the  great  majority  of  men. 

Born  a  poor  Indian  boy,  he  might  have  lived  and 
died  in  obscurity  but  for  the  timely  visit  to  his  village 
of  a  force  of  soldiers,  commanded  by  a  general.  The 
general  needed  an  amanuensis,  and  at  that  time  Indians 
able  to  read  and  write  were  even  scarcer  than  they 
are  to-day.  Young  Huerta  had  made  good  use  of 
such  poor  schooling  as  the  village  afforded.  The 
general  employed  him,  was  struck  by  his  brightness, 
and  took  him  to  the  capital,  where,  through  the  interest 
of  President  Juarez,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Military 
School.  This,  of  course,  could  not  be  compared  with 
similar  institutions  in  Europe,  but  Victoriano  Huerto 
took  full  advantage  of  his  opportunities,  and  at  the 
end  of  the  course  of  studies  was  declared  a  credit  to 
the  college  and  a  young  man  marked  out  for  high 
positions. 

Under  General  Diaz  he  did  good  service,  but  for 
some  reason  was  neither  liked  nor  trusted  by  his  com- 
mander-in-chief,  perhaps  because  Diaz  considered  him 
a  possible  rival.  Yet  when  the  old  President  fled  the 
country,  Huerta  behaved  with  stanch  loyalty;  saw 
to  his  safe  conduct ;  even  ordered  a  farewell  salute  to 
be  fired.  As  soon  as  Madero  came  into  office  Huerta 
was  placed  on  half-pay.  Now  he  engaged  in  business 
as  a  contractor  for  building  materials.  I  have  spoken 
with  many  people  who  knew  him  in  this  capacity 
in  Monterrey.  In  his  business  transactions  he  was 
honest  and  fairly  capable,  but  as  regards  the  payment 
of  his  household  accounts  he  was  less  scrupulous. 
That  was  where  the  Indian  character  revealed  itself. 
Not  even  when  he  became  President  did  he  settle  the 
small  accounts  which  he  left  owing  in  Monterrey. 


124  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

The  virulence  of  the  Zapata  rebellion  in  Morelos, 
where  the  land  grievances  of  the  Indians  were  especially 
acute,  caused  his  recall  to  active  service.  He  was 
quickly  successful  in  dealing  with  the  Zapatista  bandits, 
and  would  have  annihilated  them  but  for  Madero's 
mysterious  intervention.  Why  they  were  spared 
to  carry  on  their  infamous  brigandage — they  are  still 
the  terror  of  Morelos  to-day — has  never  been  explained. 
At  all  events,  Muerta  was  recalled  and  once  more 
placed  on  half-pay.  He  took  up  business  again,  and 
was  on  the  point  of  becoming  a  partner  in  some  marble 
quarries  when  the  failure  of  other  leaders  to  defeat 
Orosco's  rebellion  in  the  North  forced  Madero  to  call 
upon  him  for  aid. 

I  have  laid  stress  upon  his  business  enterprises, 
because  they  show  that  Huerta  was  not,  as  his  enemies 
declare,  a  man  consumed  by  ambition  for  power.  Had 
he  been  that/  he  would  not  have  retired  so  quietly 
into  private  life.  What  he  sought  was  money  rather 
than  power.  It  is  avarice,  many  think,  rather  than 
ambition  which  has  made  him  cling  to  office  with  so 
desperate  a  grip. 

Before  he  agreed  to  take  command  against  Orosco  he 
made  certain  demands  for  war  material.  These  were 
at  first  refused,  but  he  persisted  and  Madero's  Govern- 
ment gave  way.  His  campaign  was  a  triumphant 
success.  There  was  not  much  fighting,  but  Captain 
Burnside,  the  United  States  Military  Attache,  who 
accompanied  the  Federal  forces,  came  back  with  a 
high  opinion  of  Huerta's  organizing  capacity.  Yet 
a  third  time  Madero  dispensed  with  his  services  until, 
as  the  end  of  his  disastrous  Presidency  approached, 
he  was  compelled  to  rely  upon  Huerta  once  more. 

During  the  fighting  in  the  capital  he  commanded 


GENERAL  HUERTA  125 

the  Federal  troops,  but  he  saw  from  the  first  how  hope- 
less Madero's  position  was.  It  has  been  charged 
against  him  that  his  conduct  was  "  disloyal  "  to  one 
who  had  trusted  him  and  loaded  him  with  benefits. 
As  the  foregoing  relation  proves,  Madero  only  used 
him  when  it  was  necessary,  and  twice  flung  him  aside 
after  he  had  accomplished  his  task.  Had  the  issue 
of  events  been  different  he  would  no  doubt  have  been 
cold-shouldered  again.  Huerta  saw  that  the  people 
of  Mexico  City  were  now  as  wildly  enthusiastic  for 
General  Felix  Diaz  as  they  had  once  been  for  Madero. 
Another  wave  of  sentiment  had  engulfed  them.  He 
saw  that  Madero  had  become  impossible.  He  was 
appealed  to  by  Senators,  Deputies,  foreign  residents, 
and,  with  especial  force,  as  he  himself  has  told  me,  by 
Mr.  Henry  Lane  Wilson,  the  American  Ambassador, 
to  end  the  carnage  in  the  streets  (3,000  had  been  killed). 
He  met  General  Felix  Diaz  at  the  American  Embassy ; 
a  few  hours  later  Madero  was  made  a  prisoner  and 
forced  to  resign.  Huerta,  being  Minister  of  War,  and 
the  strongest  man  in  sight,  became  Provisional  Presi- 
dent in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  Mexican  Con- 
stitution. General  Felix  Diaz  acquiesced  in  this 
arrangement  upon  the  understanding  that  he  should 
be  elected  President  in  six  months'  time. 

Huerta's  greatest  difficulty  at  this  crisis  was  to  know 
what  he  could  do  with  Madero.  He  consulted  Mr. 
Henry  Lane  Wilson,  and  at  first  it  was  arranged  that 
he  should  be  allowed  to  leave  the  country.  The 
difficulty  in  the  way  of  this  was  that  the  Governor  of 
the  State  of  Vera  Cruz  and  the  Federal  general  com- 
manding that  district  were  both  Maderistas,  and 
declared  that  if  the  late  President  were  sent  there  to 
take  ship,  he  would  be  received  with  Presidential 


126  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

honours.  It  was  therefore  decided  to  transfer  Madero, 
with  his  Vice- President,  Pino  Suarez,  from  the  Palace 
to  the  Penitentiary,  there  to  await  trial  on  charges  of 
treason  to  the  Republic.  On  the  way  both  prisoners 
were  killed.  Some  say  that  they  attempted  to  escape 
and  were  shot  under  the  "  Ley  Fuga,"  the  law  which 
permits  flying  prisoners  to  be  shot.  Others  say  that 
they  were  murdered  either  by  "  Felixistas  "  or  by  the 
friends  of  a  Colonel  Ruiz,  who  had  been  assassinated 
in  the  Palace  before  Madero's  fall.  By  the  Govern- 
ment and  people  of  the  United  States,  the  guilt  is 
laid  at  General  Huerta's  door,  although  not  a  particle 
of  evidence  in  support  of  that  accusation  has  been 
produced.  He  may  have  known  that  the  attack 
was  to  be  made ;  he  may  have  arranged  it ;  but  if  he 
did  so  he  acted  in  direct  opposition  to  his  own  interests. 
To  assume  off-hand  that  he  planned  the  assassinations 
is  certainly  unfair.  , 

From  that  moment,  however,  he  had  to  face  the 
determined  hostility  of  the  tjnited  States.  Washing- 
ton refused  to  recognize  him,  partly  on  the  ground  that 
it  wished  to  discourage  violent  revolutions  by  political 
adventurers,  an  epithet  which  scarcely  applies  to  one 
who  had  office  thrust  upon  him  in  the  manner  I  have 
described.  He  was  unable  to  borrow  money  for  the 
purpose  of  defeating  the  rebellion  which  broke  out 
a  few  days  after  he  became  President.  The  Carran- 
zistas  overran  the  north.  Zapata  and  his  brutal 
peons  scourged  Morelos  and  its  neighbour  States. 
Huerta  had  made  it  known  that  his  first  task  must 
be  to  give  the  country  peace ;  after  that  he  would  think 
about  reforms  in  the  land  system,  taxation  system, 
judicial  system,  "  jefe  politico  "  system,  which  all 
who  think  at  all  admit  to  be  necessary.  At  first  he 


GENERAL  HUERTA  127 

seemed  to  be  the  very  man  Mexico  needed,  and  so  he 
might  have  proved  to  be  with  support,  though  peace 
without  justice  would  have  merely  postponed  the 
reckoning.  Unsupported,  the  task  was  too  heavy 
for  him. 

Hailed  at  the  outset  as  the  saviour  of  his  country, 
General  Huerta  steadily  lost  ground.  He  could  only 
see  one  way  out  of  his  difficulties — despotism.  Against 
the  advice  of  his  wisest  friends,  he  dissolved  Congress 
and  imprisoned  a  large  number  of  Deputies.  They 
probably  deserved  it.  In  some  cases  there  is  no  doubt 
that  they  had  been  plotting  against  him.  But  he 
acted  unwisely,  for  the  act  weakened  him,  just  as  a 
similar  illegality  in  the  long  run  weakened  Oliver 
Cromwell.  Money  troubles  became  serious.  Salaries 
of  public  servants,  rents  of  public  buildings,  fell  into 
arrear.  The  furrows  in  the  old  President's  forehead 
deepened.  He  showed  his  weakness  by  being  afraid 
to  have  capable  men  about  him.  He  quarrelled  with 
his  Ministers.  He  had  begun  with  a  Cabinet  of  respect- 
able, and  mostly  capable,  politicians.  One  by  one  they 
were  "  requested  to  resign,"  and  their  places  filled  by 
inferior  men.  As  a  Mexican  who  once  played  a  promi- 
nent part  put  it  to  me,  the  President  "  no  longer 
sought  colleagues,  but  accomplices."  He  gathered 
around  him  a  crew  of  sycophants  who  encouraged  him 
to  think  that  the  United  States  were  "  only  bluffing," 
and  that  even  if  war  came,  their  Army  could  not  defeat 

!his  ragged,  ill-trained  Indians. 
Now  he  is  obsessed  by  the  belief  that  he  is  indis- 
pensable. He  "  cooked  the  elections "  so  that  he 
might  be  returned  as  President,  although  he  had  not 
offered  himself.  This  was  merely  a  ruse,  however. 
His  plan  was  that  the  new  Congress,  consisting  for 


128  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

the  most  part  of  his  relatives  and  supporters,  should 
declare  his  election  void,  but  ask  him  to  remain  in 
office  until  the  country  was  sufficiently  pacified  for  a 
fresh  choice  to  be  made.  I  am  assured  that  he  con- 
fided to  a  friend  that  no  election  would  be  possible 
for  a  long  time,  and  that  he  then  counted  upon  being 
elected  President  himself  !  That  was  in  an  expansive 
mood,  however.  As  a  rule  he  confides  in  nobody. 
Even  his  Ministers  are  kept  in  ignorance  of  what  his 
next  move  is  to  be.  He  summons  them  suddenly, 
sometimes  in  the  very  early  hours  of  the  morning,  and 
tells  them  what  they  are  to  do.  If  they  argue  they  are 
dismissed.  Senor  Garza  Aldape  advised  him  to  resign, 
and  pointed  out  that  the  meeting  of  Congress  would 
be  illegal.  He  was  not  only  deprived  of  his  office,  but 
packed  off  at  less  than  twelve  hours'  notice  to  France. 
His  two  chief  difficulties,  procuring  men  for  his  Army 
and  money  for  its  campaign  against  the  Revoltosos, 
he  met  by  desperate  remedies.  He  set  a  pressgang 
to  work.  In  the  capital  and  other  cities  he  had  thou- 
sands of  labourers  seized  in  the  streets  at  night  and 
sent  off  to  the  front.  That  made  him  unpopular  with 
the  lower  class.  The  well-to-do  he  harried  by  forced 
loans.  No  effort  was  made  to  restore  financial  con- 
fidence. Paper  money  fell  heavily  in  exchange  value. 
Silver  dollars  were  hoarded  and  there  arose  a  most 
inconvenient  scarcity  of  change.  Shops  lost  custom 
because  they  had  no  small  money.  Several  times  I 
found  it  impossible  to  buy  things  I  needed  because  I 
had  not  the  exact  amount  of  the  purchase-money. 
The  notes  of  provincial  banks  became  valueless  in 
Mexico  City.  At  last,  early  in  1914  the  Treasury  was 
so  empty  that  default  was  declared  in  the  interest  upon 
the  National  Debt.  The  Customs  receipts  ear-marked 


GENERAL  HUERTA  129 

to  provide  for  the  payment  of  this  interest  were  taken 
for  general  purposes.  The  Finance  Minister,  sent  to 
France  to  beg  for  a  loan,  met  with  flat  refusal.  Presi- 
dent Wilson's  plan  of  "  starving  Huerta  out  "  looked 
like  succeeding. 

With  an  obstinate  tyrant  on  one  side  and  an  obstinate 
moralist  on  the  other,  it  is  no  wonder  that  all  the 
foreigners  in  Mexico  and  a  good  many  Mexicans  are 
apprehensive.  The  situation  is  difficult  and  dangerous, 
curiously  like  that  which  preceded  the  South  African 
War.  Then,  as  now,  there  was  an  old  President 
trying  all  kinds  of  ruses,  fancying  he  could  give  battle 
successfully  to  a  powerful  nation,  righting  doggedly 
against  the  inevitable.  President  Huerta  is  an  Indian. 
President  Kruger  was  a  Boer.  But  history  will  say 
of  them  that  they  were  very  much  alike. 


XIII 

PRESIDENT  WILSON'S  PRINCIPLE 

I  HOPE  that  my  description  of  President  Huerta 
will  have  cleared  the  way  for,  and  will  help  to  make 
clear,  the  review,  which  I  must  now  attempt,  of  the 
part  played  by  the  United  States  in  the  affairs  of  Mexico 
since  he  took  took  office.  But  before  entering  upon 
this  review  it  is  necessary  to  look  for  a  moment  further 
back. 

In  any  case  the  attitude  of  President  Wilson  and  Mr. 
Bryan  would  have  irritated  the  Mexican  people.  But 
it  would  not  have  irritated  them  so  much  had  there 
been  among  them  no  latent  hostility  against  Americans. 
That  hostility  dates  from  the  invasion  of  Mexico  by 
the  United  States  in  1847.  ^n  recent  years  it  has 
been  inflamed  by  a  personal  dislike.  Americans  have 
gone  to  Mexico  in  large  numbers.  The  last  census 
showed  that  there  were  20,000  of  them  residing  in  the 
country.  They  have  made  a  great  deal  of  money, 
and,  further,  they  have  offended  Mexicans,  who  are 
a  courteous  race,  by  the  brusqueness  of  their  manners. 
Most  of  them,  not  content  with  disregarding,  profess 
open  contempt  for  the  formalities  of  speech  which 
are  so  important  in  Mexico.  In  a  country  where  no 
labourer  will  pass  in  front  of  another  without  a  polite 
"  Con  permiso,"  and  where,  even  on  the  telephone, 
business  conversations  open  with  a  skirmish  of  inquiries 
after  the  health  of  each  speaker  and  of  their  respective 

130 


PRESIDENT  WILSON'S  PRINCIPLE     131 

families,  the  rough-and-ready  methods  of  the  United 
States  give  offence  where  none  is  intended. 
/  In  spite  of  this  general  dislike  of  "  Gringoes,"  the 
relations  between  President  Diaz  and  the  Washington 
Government  were,  in  the  later  years  of  Don  Porfirio's 
reign,  cordial.  By  1909  they  had  become  so  friendly 
that  President  Taft  paid  President  Diaz  a  visit  on 
Mexican  soil,  and  they  exchanged  speeches  declaring 
that  the  sympathy  between  their  nations  was  "  mutualy 
perdurable,"  their  aims  and  ideals  identical,  the  bonds 
between  them  unbreakable. /^Read  in  the  light  of 
recent  happenings,  those  sentiments  can  only  provoke 
a  cynical  smile.  Even  at  the  moment  they  were 
uttered,  the  United  States  were  allowing  an  organized 
campaign  against  the  Porfirian  system  to  be  carried 
on  in  American  newspapers.  Plots  against  the 
Mexican  Government  were  being  hatched  and  fostered 
upon  American  soil.  When  a  year  later  Madero's 
rebellion  broke  out,  it  was  hailed  across  the  border 
as  a  "  blow  for  freedom."  Texas  lent  it  not  sympathy 
alone,  but  active  support.  Madero  was  looked  upon 
as  a  national  hero,  and,  when  he  fell,  a  howl  of  execra- 
tion went  up  from  the  American  Press. 

The  fact  that  the  Americans  in  Mexico  regarded  his 
fall  as  a  deliverance  was  disregarded.  The  advice 
of  Mr.  Henry  Lane  Wilson,  the  American  Ambassador 
to  Mexico,  was  set  aside.  The  other  Great  Powers 
recognized  General  Huerta  as  de  facto  President,  but 
the  United  States  Government,  with  popular  approval, 
declined  to  admit  that  "  a  blood-stained  adventurer  " 
had  any  right  to  the  position  which  he  had  won  by  a 
successful  revolt. 

It  is,  of  course,  necessary  to  take  into  account  the 
fact  that  the  United  States  had  an  interest  in  the 


182  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

Mexican  situation  which  was  not  identical  with  those 
of  other  Powers.     In  its  character  of  protector  to  the 
j  Republics  of  South  and  Central  America,  the  Washing- 
;  ton  Government  had  resolved  to  discourage  revolutions. 
The  method  by  which  it  proposed  to  put  an  end  to  them 
was  that  of  refusing  recognition  to  any  ruler  not  elected 
(»by  the  popular  vote.     The  retort  that  in  most  of  these 
Republics  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  genuine  election 
carried  no  weight.    At  any  rate  the  forms  of  constitu- 
tionalism were  to  be  observed.     If  the  spirit  were  absent 
the  letter  must  suffice. 

In  the  case  of  Mexico,  the  United  States  went  further. 
Having  recalled  their  Ambassador,  leaving  in  his  place 
a  clever  young  Charge  d'affaires  named  O'Shaugnessy 
(an  old  Oxford  man,  by  the  way),  they  made  a  series 
of  demands  upon  Mexico,  chief  among  which  was  the 
proviso  that  General  Huerta  should  not  offer  himself 
as  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  Here  the  United 
States  left  the  path  of  strict  constitutionalism.  They 
said  to  Mexico,  in  effect,  "  Even  if  the  majority  desire 
General  Huerta  for  President,  you  must  not  elect  him. 
We  do  not  approve  of  him."  From  that  moment  the 
personal  equation  most  unfortunately  became  promi- 
nent. Without  any  evidence  the  United  States 
accused  Huerta  of  murdering  Madero.  It  is  said  that 
President  Wilson  was  strongly  influenced  in  this 
direction  by  the  appeal  which  Seiiora  Madero  made  to 
him.  At  all  events,  the  quarrel  now  became,  in  effect, 
a  trial  of  strength  between  two  men. 

The  people  of  the  United  States,  for  the  most  part, 
looked  on  with  amusement.  Few  of  them  had  any 
wish  to  go  to  war.  They  had  little  sympathy  with 
their  fellow-countrymen  in  Mexico  whose  lives  and 
property  were  endangered  by  the  civil  war.  Both 


PRESIDENT   WILSON'S   PRINCIPLE     183 

President  Wilson  and  Mr.  Bryan  have  replied  to  repeated 
representations  from  Americans  in  Mexico  that  their 
policy  does  not  cover  the  protection  of  American 
business  interests.  In  August  they  went  so  far  as  to 
advise  all  Americans  in  disturbed  areas  to  leave  the 
country.  That  advice  was  endorsed  by  the  mass  of 
the  American  people,  who  said,  "  They  went  there  of 
their  own  accord.  They  took  a  risk  and  they  must 
put  up  with  the  consequences,"  a  vivid  illustration 
of  the  weakness  of  the  national  spirit  in  the  United 
States.  The  most  frequently  uttered  American  view 
was  that  the  two  factions  in  Mexico  should  be  left  to 
fight  it  out,  and  that  both  should  be  allowed  to  buy 
arms  freely,  so  that  the  end  might  more  quickly  come  ! 

Opinion  being  ill-informed  and  interest  in  Mexican 
affairs  slight,  the  Washington  Government  proceeded 
on  its  way  without  any  check.  Even  before  it  with- 
drew its  Ambassasor,  President  Wilson  had  sent 
"  personal  representatives  "  to  report  to  him  upon 
conditions  in  Mexico.  Apparently  they  led  him  to 
believe  that  a  veiled  threat  of  force  would  be  sufficient 
to  cow  President  Huerta.  In  August,  therefore,  he 
sent  another  "  personal  envoy,"  Mr.  John  Lind,  to 
present  to  the  Mexican  Government  the  following 
programme — 

"  (a)  An  immediate  cessation  of  fighting  throughout 
Mexico,  a  definite  armistice  solemnly  entered  into  and 
scrupulously  observed ; 

"  (b)  Security  given  for  an  early  and  free  election 
in  which  all  agree  to  take  part  ; 

"  (c)  The  consent  of  General  Huerta  to  bind  himself 
not  to  be  a  candidate  for  election  as  President  of  the 
Republic  at  this  election;  and 

"  (d)  The  agreement  of  all  parties  to  abide  by  the 


134  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

results  of  the  election,  and  co-operate  in  the  most 
loyal  way  in  organizing  and  supporting  the  new 
Administration. 

"  The  Government  of  the  United  States  will  be  glad 
to  play  any  part  in  this  settlement  or  in  its  carrying 
out  which  it  can  play  honourably  and  consistently 
with  international  right.  It  pledges  itself  to  recognize 
and  in  every  way  possible  and  proper  to  assist  the 
Administration  chosen  and  set  up  in  Mexico  in  the 
way  and  on  the  conditions  suggested." 

At  first  there  was  some  doubt  whether  President 
Huerta  would  "  recognize  "  Mr.  Lind,  who,  although 
he  journeyed  to  Vera  Cruz  in  a  battleship,  had  no 
official  position.  His  Ministers,  however,  chief  among 
them  Senor  Gamboa,  an  able  diplomatist,  persuaded 
him  to  reply.  In  a  clever  letter,  written  by  Senor 
Gamboa,  Mr.  Wilson's  demands  were  declared  to  be 
humiliating  and  out  of  touch  with  the  realities  of  the 
situation.  Clearly  it  was  futile  to  suggest  an  armistice 
without  first  making  sure  that  the  revolutionaries 
would  agree  to  it.  Equally  visionary  (though  the 
Mexican  Government  could  not  say  so)  was  the  touch- 
ing belief  that  all  difficulties  could  be  cleared  up  by  a 
"free"  election.  With  no. experience  of  any  people 
but  their  own,  Mr.  Wilson  and  Mr.  Bryan  persisted 
in  their  conviction  that  the  democratic  form  of  govern- 
ment, which  succeeds  but  indifferently  well  among 
civilized  nations,  must  be  applicable  (like  a  plaster) 
to  a  hybrid  people,  of  whom  the  vast  majority  were 
only  just  emerging  from  the  barbarous  stage. 

However,  the  proposal  gave  General  Huerta  his 
opportunity.  He  announced  shortly  after  the  exchange 
of  notes  that  he  intended  to  hold  a  presidential  election. 
He  had  been  chosen  Provisional  President  for  that 


PRESIDENT   WILSON'S   PRINCIPLE     135 

purpose;  he  regarded  it  as  a  sacred  duty.  Further, 
he  himself  would  be  prevented  by  the  terms  of  the 
Constitution  from  offering  himself  as  a  candidate. 
He  fixed  the  election  for  October  26. 

For  the  time  being  Washington  was  satisfied. 
President  Wilson  openly  called  the  world  to  witness 
the  triumph  of  his  policy.  Candidates  were  selected. 
Addresses  were  published.  By  the  Catholic  Party 
Senor  Gamboa  was  nominated.  The  Liberals  adopted 
Sefior  Calero.  The  friends  of  General  Felix  Diaz  put 
his  name  forward,  although  he  was  not  in  the  country. 
In  spite  of  continued  rebel  successes,  the  feeling  grew 
that  the  corner  towards  peace  and  order  had  been 
turned.  A  new  President,  recognized  by  the  United 
States,  would  be  able  to  borrow  money  and  put  down 
the  revolution.  The  outlook  had  become  decidedly 
more  cheerful.  But  it  was  not  to  remain  so  for  long. 

In  the  second  week  in  October  the  horizon  became 
again  black  and  threatening.  A  thunderbolt  fell. 
It  took  the  form  of  an  arbitrary  dissolution  of  Congress, 
the  imprisonment  of  more  than  100  members,  and  the 
assumption  by  General  Huerta  of  dictatorial  powers. 
He  was  in  a  difficult  position.  The  remnant  of 
Madero's  House  of  Deputies  had  been  systematically 
"  obstructing."  He  had  evidence  that  some  of  them 
were  corresponding  with  the  rebels.  Some  who 
wished  him  well  urged  him  to  be  patient,  but,  soldier- 
like, he  cut  the  knot,  and  once  more  the  United  States 
rang  with  denunciations  of  "  the  tyrant,  the  oppressor." 
Immediately  he  was  warned  that  any  injury  to  the 
imprisoned  Deputies  would  seriously  concern  the  State 
Department.  Mr.  Wilson  gave  out  that  he  was 
horrified.  The  relations  which  had  seemed  to  be 
improving  became  more  strained  than  ever. 


136  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

Very  little  was  now  hoped  for  from  the  election; 
the  announcement  that  General  Huerta  had  received 
the  largest  number  of  votes,  although  not  a  candidate, 
caused  no  surprise.  It  is  not  suspected  only,  it  is 
known  that  he  issued  instructions  to  ensure  this  result. 
At  the  same  time  a  Congress  was  "  elected,"  full  of 
the  President's  friends  and  supporters;  so  many  of 
them  officers  that  it  was  suggested  the  bugle  should 
be  adopted  in  place  of  the  chairman's  bell. 

To  this  Congress  the  United  States  refused  recogni- 
tion equally  with  the  President.  It  could  not,  they 
declared,  have  been  legally  elected,  seeing  that  the 
previous  Assembly  had  been  illegally  dismissed. 
Again  they  called  upon  General  Huerta  to  resign  and 
to  consent  to  the  annulment  of  all  the  recent  elections. 
At  one  moment  he  almost  decided  to  give  up  the  struggle. 
I  have  been  assured  by  one  in  whose  word  I  place  full 
confidence  that  a  comical  misunderstanding  caused 
him  to  change  his  mind.  He  received  from  a  friend 
whom  he  had  sent  to  the  United  States  to  "  take  the 
temperature  "  a  cablegram  which  described  the  inter- 
national situation  as  "  resolute  and  firm,"  meaning 
that  Europe  was  leaving  Washington  a  free  hand. 
The  words  "  resolute  and  firm  "  were  interpreted  by 
him  as  advice.  He  hardened  his  heart  and  would  not 
go.  Instead  he  issued  a  "  note."  He  had,  he  said, 
a  presentiment  that  Congress  would  declare  his  election 
illegal  on  account  of  the  small  number  of  votes  cast : 
in  due  course,  therefore,  there  would  be  a  new  election ; 
and  he  was  the  only  man  capable  of  keeping  order 
until  this  was  over.  Here  was  direct  defiance.  Now 
the  daily  rumours  grew  more  and  more  alarming. 
Many  people,  chiefly  Americans,  left  the  city. 
Anxiety  was  born  of  the  feeling  that  now  the 


PRESIDENT   WILSON'S   PRINCIPLE     137 

United  States  must  "  do  something."  They  had 
threatened.  Their  threat  had  been  disregarded. 
What  would  they  do  ? 

The  question  rather  was — What  could  they  do  ? 
They  found  themselves  in  a  position  in  which  it  was 
impossible  either  to  go  forward  or  to  go  back.  There 
was  wild  talk  of  war,  but  it  would  have  been  tragically 
farcical  to  see  such  advocates  of  peace  as  Mr.  Wilson 
and  Mr.  Bryan  attacking  a  neighbour  country  on  the 
ground  that  they  did  not  approve  of  its  Provisional 
President.  There  was  talk  of  a  blockade,  but  for  that, 
equally,  justification  was  lacking.  The  general  feeling 
in  Mexico  City,  especially  after  the  President's  Message 
to  Congress,  in  which  he  blandly  ignored  the  United 
States,  was,  if  I  may  adopt  a  metaphor  from  "  poker," 
that  Washington's  "  bluff  had  been  called  "  and  that 
it  had  nothing  in  its  "  hand."  So  far  as  can  be  seen 
at  present,  then,  Mr.  Wilson's  desire  "  to  triumph  as 
the  friend  of  Mexico  "  has  done  good  to  nobody, 
excepting  possibly  the  Revolutionaries,  whom  it  has 
encouraged.  To  fight  for  a  principle  is  magnificent, 
but  it  is  not  politics. 

Such  a  plight  as  that  of  Mexico  can  only  be  mended 
in  one  way.  That  way,  often  practised  by  the  British 
in  India,  is  to  support  the  strongest  man  in  sight. 
When  he  has  restored  order,  then  there  can  be  talk 
of  reforms.  The  alternative  to  mending  is  "  ending." 
For  that  the  United  States  have  no  stomach.  If 
they  once  went  into  Mexico,  they  would  be  obliged 
to  stay  there.  That  would  increase  their  responsi- 
bilities, cost  them  vast  sums  of  money,  and  estrange 
the  South  American  Republics.  Yet  Mr.  Wilson's 
diplomacy  has  brought  the  danger  of  war  very  near. 
An  incident  like  the  incident  of  the  Maine  would  almost 


138  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

certainly  provoke  it.  A  too  peremptory  phrase  might 
goad  General  Huerta  into  staking  his  country's  future 
upon  a  last  desperate  throw. 

Even  if  war  be  avoided,  that  future  is  heavy  with 
storm  clouds.  The  two  factions  in  Mexico  are  too 
nearly  equal.  They  are  like  chess-players  so  closely 
matched  that  neither  can  ever  call  "  check-mate." 
The  only  hope  of  a  settlement  lies  in  a  joint  peaceable 
intervention  by  the  United  States  and  the  Powers  of 
Europe.  To  demands  thus  presented  Mexico  would 
listen.  A  man  of  character  and  capability,  not  ob- 
noxious to  any  but  "  bandits,"  could  be  set  up  as 
President  and  firmly  supported.  The  Army  could  be 
properly  trained  with  American  help.  Money  would 
be  provided  without  reluctance  to  set  the  country  in 
order.  Then  there  ought  to  be  an  International 
Commission  to  look  after  the  country's  finance  and  to 
stop  "  grafting  "  in  the  public  service.  This  would 
effectually  put  an  end  to  revolutions.  It  would  remove 
the  motive  for  them,  which  is  invariably  "  graft." 


XIV 

WHERE   DON   PORFIRIO   FAILED 

I  HAVE  mentioned  already  the  summing  up  of  the 
Mexican  situation  which  comes  glibly  from  the  lips 
of  nearly  all  British  and  American  residents  in  the 
country,  "  What  Mexico  needs  is  to  be  ruled  ruthlessly 
by  the  sword."  I  am  persuaded  that  this  is  a  short- 
sighted view,  a  view  upon  which  it  would  be  dangerous 
for  any  ruler  to  act.  Yet  there  are  excuses  for  it. 

The  foreigner,  living  in  nearly  all  cases  a  life  apart 
from  that  of  Mexicans,  is  liable  to  hasty  judgments. 
His  only  desire  is  for  quiet  which  will  let  him  pursue 
his  occupations  undisturbed.  He  looks  back  with 
wistful  longing  to  the  generation  of  peace  and  good 
order  which  was  President  Diaz's  gift  to  the  country. 
He  recalls  many  ruthless  acts  of  punishment,  many 
"  removals  "  of  men  who  seemed  likely  to  give  trouble. 

He  tells  with  appreciation  how,  in  the  early  days 
of  railways,  damage  to  the  line  and  attacks  upon 
trains  were  stopped.  In  one  district  a  number  of  the 
spikes  which  pin  the  rails  to  the  ties  (or,  as  we  call 
them,  sleepers)  had  been  pulled  up,  and  the  ties  stolen. 
Diaz  sent  instructions  fora  body  of  "  rurales  "  (mounted 
policemen)  to  ride  into  the  district  and  shoot  the  first 
six  men  they  met ! 

In  a  lonely  part  of  the  south  a  train  had  been  robbed 
by  the  inhabitants  of  a  certain  village.  The  President 

139 


140  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

told  a  young  officer  to  take  his  company  and  "  put  an 
end  to  that  sort  of  thing."  The  young  officer  had  every 
house  searched.  Almost  all  contained  stolen  property. 
He  then  marshalled  the  villagers,  picked  out  every 
fortieth  man,  and  had  him  shot.  After  this  he  said  : 
"  I  am  taking  my  troops  away,  but  if  any  more  train 
robberies  take  place  we  shall  come  back  and  shoot 
every  twentieth  man.  Should  it  be  necessary  to 
return  again,  every  tenth  man  will  be  executed." 
No  more  trains  were  attacked. 

Whether  these  particular  stories — two  out  of  many 
— are  true  does  not  matter.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
such  measures  were  employed.  They  were  necessary. 
Robbery  was  the  custom  of  the  country.  There  is  a 
lady  living  in  Mexico  whose  father  and  mother  sixty 
years  ago  travelled  from  the  coast  to  a  town  inland 
in  a  coach  which  was  pillaged  three  times  on  the 
journey.  When  all  had  been  stolen  except  their 
clothes,  their  clothes  were  also  taken.  Driver  and 
passengers  reached  their  destination  stark  naked ! 
It  was  only  by  ruthless  methods  that  such  ruffianism 
could  be  repressed.  That  is  proved  by  the  recurrence 
of  exactly  the  same  kind  of  outrage  since  the  iron  hand 
was  lifted  and  crime  left  unavenged. 

A  saloon-keeper  in  Torreon,  a  well-known  American 
character  in  the  city,  set  out  a  few  months  ago  for  the 
United  States.  The  railway  was  cut,  so  he  drove  in  a 
mule-coach  with  one  companion,  a  Mexican.  Their 
money  they  sewed  into  their  clothes.  On  the  road  to 
Eagle  Pass — or  rather  on  the  way,  for  there  are  no 
roads  in  this  part  of  Mexico — they  were  met  by  bandits 
passing  as  followers  of  Carranza.  These  scoundrels 
seized  the  mules,  stripped  the  two  men,  beat  the 
Mexican  for  denying  that  his  clothes  contained  money, 


WHERE   DON   PORFIRIO   FAILED      141 

and  then  left  them  to  walk  naked  in  the  scorching  sun 
to  the  nearest  railway  section-house  six  miles  away. 

Beyond  all  question,  brigandage  of  this  nature 
should  be  put  down  by  the  means  which  Diaz  employed. 
The  Indians  or  half-breeds  who  behave  in  this  way,  as 
soon  as  disorder  arises,  can  understand  no  other  argu- 
ment than  the  loaded  rifle.  The  suppression  of  the 
bandits  who  have  come  to  the  surface  in  the  three 
years  of  revolution,  like  scum  upon  a  troubled  pool, 
is  one  of  the  problems  which  will  face  whatever  Presi- 
dent may  be  in  office  when  the  revolution  ends.  To 
that  extent  the  country  must  be  governed  by  the  bullet 
and  the  sword. 

But  it  is  short-sighted  to  imagine  that  no  other 
problem  will  exist.  The  Diaz  system  was  in  many 
ways  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  age  in  which  it  flourished. 
It  certainly  kept  too  long  in  statu  pupillari  the  few 
who  were  growing  fit  gradually  to  take  part  in  managing 
their  own  affairs.  It  doled  out  education  with  a 
niggard  hand.  It  ignored  intellectual  elements  which 
it  would  have  been  wise  to  conciliate.  But  on  the 
other  hand  it  allowed  the  country's  wealth  to  be 
discovered  and  developed.  It  turned  what  had  been 
a  blood-stained  cockpit  of  warring  jealousies  and  am- 
bitions into  the  semblance  of  a  nation,  united  and 
secure.  Those  were  great  achievements. 

But  even  admitting  that  the  Diaz  system  was  at 
the  time  the  only  system  possible,  it  is  Utopian  to 
suppose  that  it  can  ever  come  back.  To  argue  that 
because  the  mass  of  the  Mexican  people  are  unable  to 
read  or  write,  unable  to  think  outside  the  circle  of 
their  own  daily  interests,  unable  to  comprehend  what 
self-government  means — to  argue  that  on  this  account 
no  measure  of  self-government  is  possible — such  a 


142  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

view  is  altogether  mistaken.  In  all  European 
countries  the  representative  system  began  long 
before  the  mass  of  people  were  fit  for  it. 

Truly  it  is  a  misfortune  for  Mexico  that  her  Constitu- 
tion was  framed  in  1857  so  far  ahead  of  the  stage 
which  she  had  then  reached,  so  far  ahead  even  of  the 
stage  which  she  has  reached  to-day.  But  that  Con- 
stitution can  be  altered  in  the  light  of  fuller  knowledge. 
Most  of  the  present  voters  are  Indians,  incapable  of 
voting  intelligently.  If  they  vote  at  all,  they  vote  as 
their  employers  direct ;  or  they  say  naively  that  they 
would  like  to  vote  for  the  candidate  who  will  win; 
or  they  stupidly  ask  the  polling  officials  (all  active 
politicians)  to  tell  them  what  to  do.  If  it  is  considered 
undesirable  to  disfranchise  them,  some  graduated 
system  of  voting  might  be  introduced.  That  would 
make  elections  more  of  a  reality,  and  their  results, 
if  they  were  honestly  conducted,  more  representative 
of  the  country's  intelligent  opinion. 

If  2Don  Porfirio's  sight  had  not  been  dimmed  by 
old  age  at  the  time  when  his  people  began  to  outgrow 
their  leading-strings,  it  may  be  that  he  would  have 
changed  the  system  himself.  Undoubtedly  it  was 
his  failure  to  realize  their  growth  which  caused  his 
downfall.  It  is  true  that  at  one  time  he  could  have 
crushed  the  revolution,  if  needful  measures  had  been 
taken.  But  that  would  only  have  postponed  the  ex- 
plosion. What  events  led  up  to  the  sudden  deposition 
of  the  ruler  whom  Europe  supposed  to  be  entrenched 
not  only  behind  strong  works  of  power  but  also  in 
the  hearts  of  his  subjects,  has  for  most  people  remained 
a  mystery.  I  have  taken  the  trouble  to  piece  together 
from  the  oral  narratives  of  many  who  took  part  in 
them  a  sketch  of  the  occurrences  which  preceded  his 


WHERE   DON   PORFIRIO   FAILED      143 

downfall.  I  think  it  will  be  a  help  towards  under- 
standing the  state  of  Mexico  now. 

Towards  the  end  of  Don  Porfirio's  reign  there  were 
two  other  men  who  exercised  a  great  deal  of  influence 
in  Mexico — Serior  Limantour  and  General  Reyes. 
The  former  was  the  extremely  clever  Minister  of  Finance. 
The  latter  was  Governor  of  the  State  of  Nuevo  Leon, 
dictator  of  the  rapidly-growing  city  of  Monterrey. 
The  idea  that  he  ought  to  take  thought  for  the  morrow 
of  his  country  had  not  escaped  the  old  President. 
He  felt  at  times  that  it  would  be  a  relief  to  retire; 
at  other  times  he  was  troubled  by  misgivings  as  to 
what  might  happen  when  he  was  gone.  Sefior  Liman- 
tour seemed  to  him  to  be  the  most  fitting  successor 
in  sight,  so  he  urged  him  to  come  to  an  agreement 
with  General  Reyes.  This  was  done.  Reyes  was  given 
a  seat  in  the  Cabinet.  The  matter  seemed  settled. 
The  President  heaved  a  sigh  of  relief. 

But  soon  the  two  strong  men  began,  as  strong  men 
will,  to  disagree.  The  breach  between  them  widened. 
Limantour  could  not  hope  to  succeed  as  President 
with  Reyes  against  him.  It  was  necessary  to  look  out 
for  somebody  else.  This  time  the  President  chose 
a  certain  Sefior  Ramon  Corral,  and  made  him  Vice- 
President.  It  was  an  unfortunate  choice.  Corral 
was  unpopular.  His  appointment  fanned  the  slowly- 
spreading  flame  of  discontent. 

How  had  this  flame  been  lighted  ?  By  the  growth 
of  a  middle  class — a  class  between  those  who  owned 
land  in  large  estates  and  those  who  worked  for  them. 
Don  Porfirio  had  created  this  class  by  such  schools  as 
he  set  up,  and  by  the  general  development  of  the 
country.  But  he  never  realized  that  it  was  there.  He 
never  saw  that,  as  Mr.  Root  once  adroitly  put  it  while 


144  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

he  was  directing  the  foreign  policy  of  the  United  States, 
"  However  comfortable  a  man  may  be  in  bed,  he  can- 
not lie  in  one  position  always ;  he  needs  an  occasional 
change."  He  never  understood  how  widespread  was 
the  dissatisfaction  with  the  dragooning  and  dishonest 
methods  of  many  hacendados  and  most  "  jefes 
politicos  "  (mayors  working  under  the  direction  of 
State  governments).  He  never  detected  the  resent- 
ment against  the  many  "  jobs  "  by  which  Ministers 
and  their  friends  were  supposed  to  be  growing  rich. 
Senor  Limantour  has  denied  that  there  were  any  such 
"jobs."  I  can  only  make  answer  that,  if  Don 
Porfirio's  Ministers  were  honest,  they  are  severely 
misjudged.  The  universal  opinion  in  Mexico  is  they 
were  not. 

There  was  yet  another  cause  for  the  stirring  of  popu- 
lar sentiment  against  the  Diaz  regime.  For  some 
years  a  certain  Ricardo  Flores  Magon  had  been  sowing 
Mexico  with  Socialist  pamphlets,  sent  at  first  by 
post  and  afterwards  by  hand  from  the  United  States. 
Magon  carried  on  his  campaign  against  the  Government 
of  Mexico  first  in  San  Antonio,  Texas;  then  in  St. 
Louis,  Missouri;  finally  in  Los  Angeles,  California, 
where  he  was  arrested,  at  the  instance  of  Don  Porfirio, 
charged  with  breaking  the  neutrality  law  by  enlisting 
a  force  for  the  invasion  of  Mexico,  and  sent  to  prison. 

Like  many  of  his  followers  whom  I  have  met  in 
rebel  camps,  he  was  a  sincere  fanatic.  While  he  was 
in  prison  he  was  offered  an  income  of  £2,500  a  year 
if  he  would  live  in  Europe  and  give  up  inciting  his  fellow- 
countrymen  to  rebel.  The  offer  was  refused.  He 
had  command  of  large  sums  of  money ;  his  adherents, 
scattered  all  over  Mexico,  subscribed  their  farthings 
weekly  to  the  cause.  But  he  never  took  personal 


WHERE   DON  PORFIRIO  FAILED      145 

advantage  of  this.  He  was  in  such  poverty  when  he 
was  arrested  that  he  had  no  money  for  a  lawyer. 
This  I  had  from  a  very  high  Mexican  official  who  was 
charged  with  the  study  of  his  movement. 

Misguided  as  it  was,  it  sowed  the  land  with  mines, 
and  when  Madero  came  (he  was  at  first  the  disciple, 
though  later  the  enemy  of  Magon)  they  all  exploded. 
Don  Porfirio  had  been  persuaded  by  the  wealthy  classes, 
by  all  who  held  posts  under  Government,  by  the 
foreigners  who  had  prospered  under  his  protection, 
that  he  was  indispensable.  The  new  middle  class 
sulked  and  waited  for  its  opportunity.  The  poor 
were  dazzled  by  promises  of  land  and  an  easier  life. 
Madero 's  success  ran  like  a  fire  through  the  country. 

There  was  a  moment  when  the  armed  rebellion 
could  have  been  checked,  when  the  only  Insurrectos 
armed  and  in  the  field  were  some  3,000  in  Chihuahua. 
But  to  check  it  energy  was  needed,  prompt  military 
action,  an  immediate  increase  of  the  Army,  which 
had  been  allowed  to  dwindle.  Don  Porfirio  missed 
the  moment.  Sefior  Limantour,  on  whom  he  leaned 
chiefly  for  advice,  was  in  France.  The  Minister  of 
War  was  old  and  feeble,  but  the  President  could  not 
bring  himself  to  supersede  a  lifelong  friend.  In  his 
eighty-first  year  General  Diaz  worked  night  as  well  as 
day,  trying  to  direct  the  campaign  in  addition  to  his 
other  duties. 

From  one  who  worked  with  him  I  have  heard  how 
at  eleven  at  night,  at  midnight,  at  one  in  the  morning, 
his  wife  would  urge  him  to  go  to  bed.  At  last  he  would 
take  his  clothes  off  and  lie  down,  but  after  an  hour  or 
two  he  would  be  back  again,  reading  telegrams,  issuing 
orders,  wearing  his  strength  away. 

After  long  delay  Senor  Limantour  sailed  from  Europe. 


146  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

The  Porfiristas  longed  for  his  return,  hoping  he  would 
infuse  more  vigour  into  the  struggle.  But  in  New  York 
he  heard  that  orders  were  given  for  American  troops  to 
concentrate  on  the  border.  The  news  struck  panic 
into  his  soul.  He  had  always  feared  an  American 
invasion  of  Mexico.  It  was  his  idle  fixe.  He  could 
not  rid  his  mind  of  the  conviction  that  some  day  the 
United  States  would  extend  to  the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 
He  hurried  to  Mexico  City  and  urged  upon  the  President 
that  it  was  his  duty,  as  a  patriot,  to  resign.  "  If  we 
fight  among  ourselves  we  shall  have  the  Gringoes  upon 
us,"  was  his  argument. 

Weary,  dazed  by  the  whirl  of  Fortune's  wheel,  which 
had  cast  him  headlong  from  his  seeming  security,  Don 
Porfirio  wavered.  Even  then  the  old  proud  spirit 
might  have  triumphed  save  for  an  incident  trivial  in 
appearance,  but  tinged  with  that  bitter  irony  which 
makes  men  the  playthings  of  chance.  An  aching  tooth 
worried  him.  One  day  at  a  Council  he  asked  his 
Ministers  to  excuse  him  while  he  had  it  taken  out. 
The  dentist  used  an  unclean  instrument.  In  an  hour 
the  President's  cheek  had  swollen  to  a  grotesque  size. 
Fatigue  had  weakened  his  blood.  Septic  poisoning 
had  set  in.  From  that  moment  he  scarcely  knew 
what  he  was  doing.  That  is  the  phrase  of  a  friend 
who  was  constantly  with  him.  So  pitifully  closed  the 
reign  of  Porfirio  Diaz,  the  greatest  man  Mexico  has 
produced. 

It  was  not  only  the  end  of  him.  It  was  the  end  of  his 
system.  No  one  can  govern  the  country  again  as  he 
did.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  will  never  be  governed 
by  a  President  of  the,Madero  type.  As  soon  as  the 
people  who  had  shouted  for  "  Don  Panchito  "  discovered 
what  he  was,  their  ardour  cooled.  He  was  a  little, 


WHERE   DON   PORFIRIO   FAILED      147 

fidgety  man,  lacking  altogether  the  gift  which  we  call 
"  personality/'  without  any  balance  of  mind  or  sense  of 
personal  dignity.  A  general  who  called  to  see  him 
by  appointment  was  waiting  in  his  study,  when  the 
President  rushed  in,  calling  to  a  small  dog,  and  not 
seeing  it,  plunged  under  a  sofa  to  make  search. 
When  he  had  ceased  to  grovel  his  visitor  saluted. 
"  Who  are  you,  eh  ?  Oh  yes,  I  recollect.  Come  again 
to-morrow."  That  was  the  greeting  which  the  general 
received. 

King-hearted  and  a  sincere  idealist,  he  might  have 
been  beloved  and  happy  in  an  obscure  condition. 
For  any  kind  of  power  he  was  utterly  unfit.  He  fell 
by  reason  of  his  unfulfilled  pledges,  of  the  poor  im- 
pression he  made,  and  of  the  immense  sums  that  were 
squandered  or  stolen  from  the  public  purse.  The 
disbanding  of  his  revolutionary  forces  cost  millions. 
When  he  took  office  there  was  some  £7,000,000  in 
the  Treasury,  and  he  borrowed  £4,000,000  more. 
All  of  that  he  spent,  in  addition  to  the  yearly  revenues 
of  the  country.  When  General  Huerta  succeeded 
the  Exchequer  balance  stood  at  less  than  £200,000. 

Madero  was  an  accident.  It  is  unlikely  that  the 
Mexican  people  will  be  deceived  again  in  the  same  way. 
But  the  man  who  is  to  rule  Mexico  successfully  must 
have  something  of  Madero 's  good  will  and  sympathy, 
as  well  as  a  great  deal  of  Don  Porfirio's  ruthlessness 
and  strength.  The  notion  that  the  Mexicans  need 
merely  a  despot  betrays  failure  to  understand  either 
them  or  human  nature.  They  are  not  fully  grown  up 
yet.  But  they  are  not  children  any  more. 


XV 

OVER   THE   EDGE 

IF  you  imagine  Mexico  as  a  whale-backed  animal 
sloping  down  from  the  United  States  border  to  Central 
America,  you  get  some  idea  of  its  shape  and  natural 
features.  All  down  the  upper  and  middle  part  the 
back  is  high.  At  the  sides  it  gradually  slopes  away  : 
on  one  side,  to  the  Atlantic ;  to  the  Pacific  on  the  other. 
This  explains  why  the  country  has  three  distinct 
climates. 

Up  on  the  high  back  are  the  "  cold  lands  "  (tierra 
fria)  :  not  what  we  should  call  cold,  for  the  sun  burns, 
even  in  mid-winter;  but  never  oppressive  at  night, 
always  fresh  and  bracing.  Then,  as  the  back  slopes, 
come  the  "  temperate  lands  "  (tierra  templada),  and, 
after  these,  along  the  ocean  coasts,  the  "  tierra  caliente  " 
(hot  lands),  where  in  December  the  sun  blazes  with  real 
ferocity,  and  the  heat  of  summer  is  unimaginable  by 
those  who  have  not  felt  it. 

Russia  is  something  like  Mexico.  The  Russian 
"steppes"  really  are  steps;  but  they  ascend  and 
descend  gradually.  In  Mexico  there  are  places  where 
the  descent  from  the  cold  to  the  temperate  lands  is 
almost  like  falling  off  a  house.  There  are  "  barrancas  " 
or  gorges  into  which  you  can  look  down  and  see 
tropical  vegetation  thousands  of  feet  below.  One  of 
the  most  famous  is  near  Guadalajara.  In  this  city 
there  is  a  daily  supply  of  tropical  fruits  grown  two 

148 


OVER  THE   EDGE  149 

thousand  feet  below  it,  yet  only  a  few  miles  away. 
You  look  into  a  crevice  of  the  earth,  sheer  down  for 
half  a  mile,  and  you  can  see  where  they  grow. 

Another  road  which  offers  a  like  surprise  is  the  rail- 
road from  Mexico  City  to  Vera  Cruz.  Here  you  seem 
to  get  to  the  edge  of  the  high  plain  and  to  tumble  over. 
Three  quarters  of  an  hour  after  you  have  looked  your 
last  at  the  distant  mountains  which  guard  the  rich 
valley  of  Mexico,  you  are  three  thousand  feet  lower 
down,  with  a  totally  different  kind  of  cultivation 
around  you,  a  much  hotter  climate,  and  a  woolly 
feeling  in  your  ears  due  to  the  sudden  change. 

In  Mexico  City  or  in  Puebla  an  overcoat  is  needed 
after  dark,  and  thick  underclothing.  In  Orizaba  and 
Cordoba  I  walked  about  at  night  feeling  too  warm 
even  without  an  overcoat.  When  I  reached  Vera  Cruz, 
I  went  back  to  the  lightest  summer  garments  and  felt 
uncomfortably  hot  in  these.  All  within  a  few  days  ! 

For  a  long  time  after  the  train  leaves  the  squalid 
suburbs  of  Mexico  City  it  runs  through  endless  fields 
of  maguey,  the  cactus  plant  with  huge  spiky  leaves, 
from  which  "  pulque,"  the  peon's  curse,  is  drawn. 
It  is  a  milky  looking  liquid  taken  from  the  centre  tube 
of  the  plant.  Newly  drawn,  it  is  refreshing,  and  seems 
to  have  so  little  effect  that  you  cannot  imagine  any  one 
getting  drunk  upon  it.  But  taken  in  large  quantities, 
especially  when  it  is  a  little  stale  and  perhaps  "  doped," 
it  has  a  stupefying,  and  sometimes  a  maddening  effect. 

The  latter  state,  though,  is  usually  caused  by 
"  tekhuila  "  (tekeela),  a  spirit  concocted  from  pulque; 
or  by  aguardiente  (sugar  brandy) ;  or  by  a  drug  called 
"  marihuana  "  (mareewahna) .  The  Indians  are  fond 
of  all  these  poisons.  Drinking  is  a  national  vice. 
Almost  all  the  peons  and  a  great  many  of  their  women 


150  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

drink  whenever  they  get  the  chance.  The  habit  can 
only  be  ground  out  of  them  by  the  slow  machinery  of 
education,  and  by  raising  a  standard  of  living  so  that 
they  will  want  the  money  for  other  things. 

For  miles  and  miles  the  straight  rows  of  pulque  plants 
run  away  on  either  side  of  the  line,  losing  themselves 
in  the  distance.  Here  and  there  they  are  broken  by 
white-walled  hacienda  enclosures.  Here  the  owner's 
house  is,  a  house  in  which  he  seldom  lives,  with  a 
church  and  a  store  for  his  labourers,  and  huts  for  them 
to  live  in,  often  as  neatly  and  precisely  planted  in  rows 
as  the  maguey  itself.  If  they  do  not  live  within  the 
enclosures,  the  peons  herd  together  in  dusty,  dilapidated- 
looking  villages,  where  nothing  but  the  perpetual 
sunshine  and  the  clear  air  can  make  life  endurable, 
unless,  indeed  (which  is  most  likely),  they  lead  the 
unquestioning  incurious  lives  of  animals,  content  with 
whatever  surroundings  they  happen  to  be  born  in. 

Through  the  dust  they  jog,  carrying  heavy  loads, 
with  that  odd  shuffling  trot  which  the  Mexican  Indian 
can  keep  up  for  hours,  or  else  they  are  harvesting  barley 
from  the  yellow  fields  which  at  last  give  relief  from 
maguey.  So  long  as  they  are  at  work  and  have  enough 
to  eat  (enough  being  a  few  beans,  a  few  maize  cakes, 
and  a  little  coffee)  they  are  tractable  creatures.  But 
their  heads  are  easily  affected.  Drink  makes  them 
savages.  Turn  on  a  tap  of  empty  eloquence  among 
them  and  they  are  quickly  carried  off  their  feet. 

They  have  a  certain  amount  of  intelligence,  but  no 
hard  sense.  To  expect  them  to  show  by  their  vote  an 
instructed  interest  in  the  affairs  of  their  country  is  as 
futile  as  it  would  be  to  look  for  a  barking  welcome  from 
a  china  dog. 

In  Orizaba,  at  which  we  arrive  after  our  thrilling 


OVER  THE  EDGE  151 

slither  down  the  mountain-side,  the  peons  have  been 
taught  to  work  in  cotton  and  jute  factories.  They 
run  the  looms  and  look  after  the  spindles  and  do 
mechanical  jobs  in  the  "  shops  "  with  fair  intelligence. 
Mexico  produces  about  five  million  pounds'  worth  of 
manufactured  cotton  goods  in  some  hundred  and  sixty 
factories,  situated  mostly  in  Puebla,  Orizaba,  and  Mexico 
City.  She  imports  about  a  million  and  a  half  pounds' 
worth,  as  well  as  a  large  quantity  of  raw  cotton,  since 
she  only  grows  half  the  amount  her  factories  require. 

The  crop  of  1913  was  unusually  heavy,  but  since  the 
Laguna  district  (Cohuila  State),  where  90  per  cent, 
of  it  lay,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  rebels,  there  was 
difficulty  and  delay  in  gathering  the  cotton.  The  supply 
at  Orizaba  was  short  and  the  factory  manager  anxious. 
They  were  obliged  to  run  short  time  already;  they 
knew  that  if  they  should  be  forced  to  shut  down,  there 
would  be  bad  trouble.  "  So  long  as  we  can  keep  him 
busy  and  his  stomach  full,  the  '  pelado  '  is  all  right," 
I  was  told.  "  As  soon  as  he  begins  to  feel  hungry  and 
has  nothing  to  do,  he  will  break  out,  and  then  anything 
may  happen." 

The  Orizaba  Jute  Factory  (Santa  Gertrudis)  is  a 
British  concern.  It  employs  several  hundred  people 
(housing  a  number  of  them  in  "  model  "  cottages), 
and  runs  6,000  spindles,  on  each  of  which  a  two-shilling 
yearly  tax  has  to  be  paid.  This  used  to  be  only  one 
shilling.  Another  tax  recently  doubled,  which  hits  all 
business  unpleasantly  hard,  is  that  on  stamps.  Under 
the  old  scale  the  Santa  Gertrudis  Mill  paid  every  month 
about  £120  for  stamps  on  receipts,  invoices,  and  suchlike 
papers.  Now  its  monthly  expenditure  under  this  head 
has  been  raised  to  £240.  The  import  duty  on  jute, 
which  comes  from  India,  has  also  been  raised.  And, 


152  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

in  addition  to  Government  demands,  there  are  frequent 
labour  agitations  for  increased  wages.  In  six  years 
wages  have  been  raised  40  per  cent.  Now  they  are 
70-80  per  cent,  higher  than  at  any  other  mill  in 
Mexico. 

I  saw  a  foreman  in  the  well-equipped  machine  shop 
of  the  factory,  which,  like  all  the  other  buildings,  has 
a  most  modern  and  efficient  air,  whose  earnings  come 
to  145.  a  day.  He  is  an  Indian,  but  you  must  not  class 
him  as  a  "  peon."  He  and  his  like  belong  to  the  new 
artisan  middle-class  which  was  born  of  the  Thirty 
Years'  Peace  under  President  Diaz.  Their  children 
are  clean,  well  dressed,  with  shoes  and  stockings 
instead  of  sandals  and  bare  legs.  It  is  they  who  make 
any  return  to  Diaz-potism  impossible. 

The  Dundee  men  who  manage  the  jute  factory  live 
in  an  orange  grove,  which,  considering  the  fame  of 
their  city  for  marmalade,  makes  them  feel  quite  at 
home.  Orange  trees  grow  in  the  plaza  of  the  town  too, 
with  roses  and  all  kinds  of  semi-tropical  flowers.  As 
usual,  the  plaza  is  the  one  pleasant  spot  in  the  place. 
A  kind  of  fury  of  road-mending  has  seized  upon  the 
Orizabans.  Almost  every  street  is  blocked,  either  by 
repairs  or  by  an  overflow  of  the  market  which  litters 
the  roadway,  here  with  heaps  of  vegetables,  there  with 
embarrassing  displays  of  ladies'  underwear. 

I  have  rashly  hired  an  ancient  "  coach  "  which  tosses 
on  the  cobbles  like  a  fishing-smack  in  a  cross-Channel 
sea.  Clearly,  though,  I  gain  a  certain  consideration 
by  riding  in  it.  The  sad-eyed,  ragged  Indians,  standing 
or  squatting  along  the  kerbs,  salute  me.  Brisker  shop- 
men lean  out  of  their  doorways  to  wiggle  respectful 
fingers.  Who  knows  ?  I  might  be  the  new  military 
governor,  or  a  revolutionary  "  cabecilla  "  (little  chief). 


OVER   THE   EDGE  153 

It  is  just  as  well  for  Mexicans  in  these  days  to  salute 
everybody  and  keep  on  the  safe  side. 

I  am  drawn  into  the  market-house  by  the  glorious 
colour  of  the  fruit  stalls,  heaped  high  with  luscious 
spheres  and  cones.  I  am  driven  forth  again  by  the 
smell  of  the  meat  stalls  which,  if  I  lived  here,  would 
certainly  make  me  a  vegetarian.  As  I  come  quickly 
out  and  climb  back  into  my  "  coche,"  a  Mexican  Mary 
is  having  trouble  on  the  pavement  with  her  "  little 
lamb."  In  this  case  the  pet  is  a  full-grown  sheep 
with  a  fine  pair  of  horns.  It  has  got  Mary  down  and 
is  butting  her  for  all  it  is  worth  ! 

A  queer,  indolent,  slipshod  city  is  Orizaba.  Pros- 
perous and  large,  but  without  any  ambition.  There  is 
a  brewery  here  which  advertises  all  over  Mexico,  and 
brews  excellent  beer.  I  pictured  the  place,  before  I 
went  there,  as  a  kind  of  Mexican  Milwaukee,  very  trim, 
and  with  a  German  atmosphere  of  order  about  it. 

Nothing  could  be  further  from  the  reality.  The  only 
fine  thing  about  Orizaba  is  its  situation,  mountains 
in  the  background  and  a  huge  snow-peaked  volcano 
towering  above. 

The  winter  climate  is  mild  and  dry,  but  there  are 
rains  for  a  long  period,  and  their  effect  is  detestable. 
The  humid  air  is  good  for  cotton  factories,  but  not  for 
human  beings.  In  the  first  hour  of  disappointment  I 
was  tempted  to  call  Orizaba  uncivilized.  That, 
however,  would  be  unfair,  for  it  has  "  kinemas,"  and 
several  drug  stores.  You  have  probably  noticed  that 
the  first  requirement  of  civilization  is  a  "  cantina,"  or 
drink-shop;  the  next,  a  drugstore.  Evidently  "  il 
faut  souffrir  pour  etre  civilise."  It  is  only  barbarians 
who  can  live  without  headache  tablets  and  indigestion 
cures. 


154  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

Orizaba,  too,  possesses  a  rickety  horse  street-car, 
which  will  take  you  from  hotel  to  railway  station  at 
four  in  the  morning,  if  you  join  (as  I  did)  the  night  train 
from  the  capital  to  Vera  Cruz.  Furthermore,  at  that 
shivery  hour  you  will  find  a  decent  little  restaurant 
open  at  the  station  and  hot  coffee  ready  for  you  with 
sticky,  sugary  rolls  of  "  pan  dulce  "  (sweet  bread). 
If  true  civilization  means  taking  thought  for  the  needs 
of  others,  then  I  am  not  sure,  when  I  recollect  early 
morning  starts  from  English  railway  stations,  that 
Orizaba  is  not  more  civilized  in  reality  than  a  good 
many  places  at  home. 

Cordoba,  a  lazy,  mediaeval  Spanish  relic,  lies  only 
about  twenty  miles  further  towards  the  coast  than 
Orizaba,  but  those  twenty  miles  make  a  great  difference 
to  the  vegetation.  It  becomes  tropical.  Sugar-cane, 
bananas,  pineapples,  all  grow  well.  Between  the 
two  cities  lies  the  chief  coffee-growing  district  of  Mexico. 
When  the  plants  are  in  blossom,  one  might  think  there 
had  been  a  fall  of  snow.  Then  come  the  brown 
berries,  and  the  busy  picking  of  them  by  chattering 
Indians,  and  the  heaping-up  of  them  in  the  "  aso- 
leadero,"  a  sunny  part  of  the  verandah,  where  they  are 
put  to  dry.  This  is  the  season  when  all  day  long  the 
sound  of  scraping  and  rattling  continues,  as  men  keep 
on  turning  the  beans  over  and  over  with  wooden  hoes. 
Then  they  are  packed  in  bags  and  sent  away,  so  that 
the  owner  of  the  "  finca  "  may  receive  the  reward  of 
his  toil. 

If  we  did  not  otherwise  know  that  we  were  in  the 
tropics,  we  could  tell  by  the  vastly  increased  size  of 
everything  growing.  I  have  never  been  surprised  at 
people  who  dwell  in  tropical  lands  taking  themselves  and 
life  less  seriously  than  do  the  dwellers  in  cold  climates. 


OVER  THE   EDGE  155 

The  latter  so  clearly  dominate  Nature.  The  former 
are  dwarfed  by  her.  Insignificant,  they  move  among 
her  giant  works.  Death  waits  for  them  round  every 
corner,  whether  in  the  shape  of  wild  beast,  poisonous 
insect,  hurricane,  earthquake,  or  feverish  swamp. 
How  can  they  think  themselves  of  any  importance  in 
the  scheme  of  life  ? 

Here,  as  we  draw  nearer  to  the  coast,  one  seems  to 
be  looking  at  grass  and  bushes  and  trees  through  a 
magnifying  glass.  One's  eyes  appear  to  have  developed 
suddenly  the  power  of  a  microscope.  Everything  is 
on  a  huge  scale.  It  is  no  doubt  this  tropical  influence 
which  makes  prices  in  Vera  Cruz  so  high.  The  "  carga- 
dores  "  (porters)  expect,  and  demand,  twice  as  much 
here  as  they  get  anywhere  else.  The  hotels  are  piratical. 
Fourteen  shillings  I  was  charged  for  a  room  in  an  annex, 
a  bare  room,  not  a  large  room,  a  room  with  nothing  to 
recommend  it  save  a  little  balcony  looking  on  the 
Plaza,  and  even  that  was  a  doubtful  advantage,  for 
late  folks  talked  under  the  Portales  until  long  past 
midnight  and  the  clatter  of  traffic  began  soon  after 
five  a.m. 

What  would  Vera  Cruz  be  without  the  Portales, 
the  Arcades,  which  are  streets  around  the  Plaza  arched 
over  so  that  they  form  open-air  restaurants  and  cafes  ? 
It  is  hot  enough  to  be  glad  of  the  open  air  in  December. 
White  linen  suits  are  worn  all  the  year  round.  One 
is  thankful  if  the  night  breeze  be  cool  enough  to 
refresh  one.  It  is  only  cold  when  a  "  norther  "  blows, 
which  is  not  often.  Then  you  find  suddenly  that  you 
want  thick  underclothes,  and  a  flannel  shirt,  and  a 
tweed  suit,  and  a  heavy  overcoat,  and  with  all  these  you 
feel  cold  still.  The  rapid  change  from  sweltering  heat, 
from  a  sun  which  even  in  winter  begins  to  be  fierce  at 


156  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  to  grey  skies  and  bitter 
Polar  gale,  unmans  one. 

But  when  there  is  no  "  norther,"  what  can  be  more 
pleasant  than  to  sit  under  the  For  tales  and  watch  the 
tide  of  Vera  Cruzan  life  flow  by  ?  In  the  early  hours 
the  parakeets  chatter  musically  in  the  thick  tree-tops 
of  the  Plaza,  and  sooner  or  later  everybody  who  is 
anybody  comes  by.  On  band  evenings,  what  could  be 
gayer  ?  Groups  of  pretty  girls  walk  round  and  round, 
their  arms  disposed,  with  intent  to  tantalize,  about  each 
other's  slim  waists.  Every  table  is  full.  Waiters  are 
busy  serving  chocolate,  ice-cream,  "  copitas  "  of  brandy, 
wholesome  Mexican  beer.  The  music  is  gay,  the 
bandsmen  play  as  if  they  enjoyed  playing. 

That  is  the  recollection  of  Vera  Cruz  which  I  treasure. 
By  day  it  is  not  an  engaging  place.  The  lower  kind 
of  people  have  mostly  an  ill  look.  The  streets  away 
from  the  Plaza  are  featureless.  It  has  improved  since 
the  "  zopilotes  "  (carrion  crows)  were  its  only  scaven- 
gers, and  drains  ran,  open  to  the  sky  in  all  their  foul- 
ness, though  the  town.  It  is  clean  now,  and  for  such 
as  are  careful,  healthy,  but  it  does  not  tempt  one  to 
linger,  except  of  an  evening  when,  under  a  blue  velvet 
sky  with  silvery  pin-holes,  you  sit  or  stroll  with  infinite 
contentment,  watching,  listening,  living,  savouring 
one  compensation  of  existence  in  this  tropical  zone. 

So  I  saw  the  Plaza  of  Vera  Cruz  on  my  last  evening 
in  Mexico.  The  band  was  crashing  out  "  Lohengrin," 
and  crooning  the  familiar  "  Geisha  "  airs. 

I  leaned  from  my  balcony,  to  hear  snatches  of  light- 
hearted  talk,  ripples  of  laughter.  I  walked  round  the 
bandstand,  and  saw  there  were  many  sailors  in  the 
crowd  from  the  foreign  warships  in  the  harbour. 
Did  the  Mexicans  resent  this  ?  Not  in  the  very  least. 


OVER  THE   EDGE  157 

The  English  and  American  and  German  bluejackets 
were  looked  at  with  curiosity,  but  certainly  without 
dislike. 

"  Politics  !  "  They  shrug  their  shoulders.  "  The 
fighting."  It  is  so  far  off.  It  is  a  Mexican  habit  not 
to  meet  trouble  halfway.  Did  not  the  deserted  towns, 
the  torn-up  railways,  the  mines  silent,  the  fields  unsown 
that  I  had  seen — did  not  these  trouble  them  at  all? 
The  dead  in  the  streets,  the  night  skies  reddened  by 
burning,  the  shootings  and  hangings  and  torturings — 
had  they  forgotten  all  these  ?  Truly  yes.  They  gave 
them  never  a  thought.  No  visitor  from  another 
planet  plunged  into  Vera  Cruz  that  evening  could  have 
guessed  that  it  was  the  chief  port  of  a  country  very 
close  to  bankruptcy,  torn  by  civil  war. 


XVI 

AN   OPERA   BOUFFE   ARMY 

IN  Vera  Cruz  as  well  as  in  the  capital  the  press-gang 
had  been  busy,  seizing  men  off  the  streets  to  be  soldiers, 
so  that  the  Army  might  be  brought  up  to  something  like 
its  nominal  strength.  It  is  because  he  is  obliged  to 
resort  to  such  a  method  of  recruiting  that  General 
Huerta  has  failed  to  make  his  position  good.  He  showed 
his  unfitness  to  govern  by  not  realizing  that  he  could 
do  nothing  without  a  real  army.  It  would  have  paid 
him  to  let  the  Revolutionists  alone  for  six  months  while 
he  trained  a  certain  number  of  troops  with  the  help  of 
American  or  European  instructors  and  sergeants. 
Then  he  could  have  wiped  out  rebel  forces  in  one  or 
two  engagements,  and  the  rest  would  have  melted  away. 
Let  me  give  two  examples  of  what  happens  now. 

On  a  Sunday  at  the  beginning  of  November — to  be 
accurate,  the  second  of  the  month — I  was  watching 
General  Velasco's  brigade  entrain  at  Saltillo  for  Torreon. 
I  asked  the  general  if  he  meant  to  start  that  day.  No, 
not  that  day.  Very  shortly.  Perhaps  to-morrow. 
It  made  no  difference  that  the  troops  were  in  their 
cars  and  vans.  They  are  accustomed  to  live  in  trains. 
Their  wives  are  taken  along,  too,  to  act  as  Army  Service 
Corps.  They  would  never  be  in  any  hurry  to  start. 
They  enjoy  the  lazy  side  of  soldiering,  but  they  dislike 
fighting  as  much  as  they  dislike  work. 

Torreon,  the  prosperous  centre  of  the  cotton-growing 

158 


AN   OPERA   BOUFFE   ARMY  159 

district,  was  taken  by  the  revolutionaries  in  September. 
After  denying  for  a  week  that  it  had  fallen,  the  Wai- 
Office  admitted  the  truth,  but  said  that  it  would  be 
retaken  in  a  few  days.  For  a  month  or  so  nothing 
happened.  Then  it  was  announced  that "  a  blow  would 
be  struck."  General  Velasco  would  start  at  once  and 
the  rebels  would  be  driven  out  of  Torreon.  The 
Government  had  been  urged  to  act  vigorously,  because 
in  the  cotton  district  a  record  crop  was  in  need  of 
being  picked.  They  responded  by  putting  a  new  tax 
upon  cotton  "  to  meet  the  cost  of  the  warlike  opera- 
tions," and  by  doing — nothing  ! 

For  six  weeks  after  I  saw  General  Velasco 's  brigade 
in  its  five  trains,  Torreon  remained  in  the  hands  of  the 
rebels.  The  forces  which  were  to  retake  it  advanced 
and  retreated,  chasseed  and  set  to  partners,  marched 
this  way  and  marched  that.  General  Velasco  was 
frequently  reported  to  be,  not  with  his  command,  but 
in  Saltillo.  Not  until  the  loth  of  December  was 
Torreon  retaken,  and  then  only  because  the  rebels  had 
drawn  off  and  left  the  garrison  very  weak. 

Equally  mysterious  the  case  of  General  Rubio 
Navarette,  who  left  the  capital  early  in  November 
with  a  force  that  was  to  drive  the  rebels  away  from  the 
country  which  lies  between  Monterrey  and  Tampico. 
The  newspapers  wrote  as  if  he  had  but  to  take  the  field 
and  the  enemies  of  order  would  disperse  in  confusion 
at  once.  The  first  event  after  General  Navarette's 
arrival  was  the  capture  by  the  rebels  of  Victoria,  capital 
of  the  State  of  Tamaulipas.  For  ten  days  this  was 
denied  by  the  War  Office,  which  issued  statements 
every  evening  implying  that  General  Navarette  was 
driving  the  enemy  before  him.  He  had  saved  Victoria. 
He  had  cleared  the  railway  line.  He  had  won  battle 


160  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

after  battle.  Then  the  War  Office  suddenly  dropped 
the  subject.  It  was  admitted  that  Victoria  had  fallen 
and  that  the  rebels  were  in  complete  control  of  the 
Monterrey-Tampico  line.  And  one  day  an  incon- 
spicuous paragraph  stated  that  General  Navarette  was 
back  in  Monterrey  ! 

These  two  cases  are  typical,  and  they  explain  why  the 
Government  makes  no  headway  against  the  Revolu- 
tion. The  fault  is  not  with  the  common  soldiers.  If 
they  were  trained  and  led  they  would  do  well.  They 
are  good  material,  tough  and  hardy,  small  and  sinewy 
like  the  Japanese  (whom  many  Indians  resemble 
closely  in  feature  also)*,  able  to  bear  fatigue  and  priva- 
tion and  the  pain  of  wounds  with  the  patient  insensi- 
bility of  animals.  But  they  are  not  trained  at  all, 
and  they  are  led  very  badly. 

I  have  mentioned  before  the  absence  of  any  fire 
discipline.  Large  numbers  of  the  men  do  not  even 
raise  their  rifles  to  the  shoulder.  They  fire  from  the  hip 
— into  the  air.  They  scarcely  ever  charge.  They 
are  never  put  through  tactical  exercises.  Some  of  the 
regiments  which  are  kept  in  the  capital,  such  as  the 
29th,  upon  which  the  Government  confidently  leans, 
have  a  few  non-commissioned  officers  who  understand 
their  duties.  Among  the  company  officers  there  are 
some  who  know  that  everything  is  wrong.  They  do 
their  best  with  their  own  men,  but  what  are  they 
among  so  many  who  neither  know  nor  care  ? 

The  Mexican  idea  of  making  a  soldier  is  to  cram  him 
into  a  uniform,  give  him  a  rifle,  and  let  him  fight  as 
best  he  can.  Even  if  the  men  were  willing  to  serve, 
this  plan  would  be  disastrous,  seeing  that  most  of  them 
are  Indians  from  the  fields,  very  low  in  the  intellectual 
scale.  But  when  we  consider  that  soldiering  is  looked 


AN  OPERA  BOUFFE  ARMY  161 

down  upon  as  disgraceful,  that  the  Federal  ranks  are 
recruited  by  the  press-gang,  and  that  many  criminals 
are  turned  out  of  prison  into  the  Army,  we  see  at  once 
what  a  tragic  farce  the  civil  war  in  Mexico  is. 

After  the  evacuation  of  Torreon  by  the  Federals 
General  Munguia  was  tried  by  a  court  of  inquiry. 
The  intention  was  to  shoot  him.  This  was  his  defence  : 
"How  could  I  meet  the  rebels  in  the  open?  "  he 
asked;  "  they  fight  in  loose  formation.  I  was  obliged 
to  keep  my  troops  together.  If  I  did  not  they  would 
melt  away.  Desertion  is  the  idea  uppermost  in  almost 
every  soldier's  mind.  Again,  how  could  I  order  my 
officers  to  lead  their  men  to  the  attack  ?  I  knew  their 
men  would  shoot  them  down  as  soon  as  they  got  the 
chance." 

The  best  generals  would  find  it  hard  to  do  anything 
with  such  an  Army  as  this  until  they  had  disciplined 
it  and  discovered  a  certain  number  of  men  whom  they 
could  trust.  Mexican  generals  have  unfortunately 
very  little  talent  for  war,  and  they  make,  as  a  rule,  no 
attempt  to  "  lick  their  men  into  shape."  Officers  in 
command  are  to  our  minds  incredibly  slack.  At  a  small 
battle  in  the  State  of  Morelos  the  Federals  by  use  of 
machine-guns  forced  the  rebels  to  retire.  The  nature 
of  the  country  made  it  easy  for  their  retreat  to  be  cut 
off.  But  the  Federal  colonel  looked  at  his  watch. 
"  It  is  time  for  dinner,"  he  said,  and  told  his  bugler  to 
sound  the  "  Cease  fire."  The  rebels  leisurely  went  away. 

That  kind  of  incident,  which  happens  daily,  helps  to 
keep  current  the  belief  that  Federal  officers  do  not  wish 
to  bring  the  war  to  an  end.  They  do  not  take  soldiering 
seriously.  At  some  gun-trials  near  the  capital  the 
general's  daughter  came  forward  to  fire  a  charge ;  then 
his  wife  was  urged  to  show  her  courage,  then  his  son 
M 


162  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

must  do  likewise  !  It  was  more  like  an  afternoon  tea- 
party  than  a  serious  piece  of  military  business.  Natur- 
ally when  guns  go  into  action  they  are  handled  very 
often  without  any  effect.  At  Tuxpam,  in  the  oil 
district,  a  barge  load  of  women  and  children  left 
suddenly  one  afternoon  for  a  safer  spot.  As  the  barge 
went  down  the  river  the  Federal  artillery  opened  fire 
across  it.  Shells  could  be  seen  exploding  over  Federal 
positions.  If  the  gunners  did  any  harm  at  all,  it  was 
to  their  own  side. 

If  President  Diaz  had  kept  the  Army  up  to  a  safe 
standard  in  numbers  and  equipment  there  would  have 
been  no  Madero  revolution.  He  allowed  it  to  dwindle 
to  about  12,000  men.  He  also  allowed  officers  to  grow 
far  too  old  in  their  commands,  and  he  made  no  attempt 
to  build  up  a  sound  military  organization.  The  College 
of  Chapultepec,  where  officers  are  supposed  to  be 
trained,  has  often  been  compared  to  West  Point, 
Sandhurst,  and  St.  Cyr.  The  comparison  is  ridiculous. 
There  is  some  good  teaching,  and  the  college  has 
turned  out  some  clever  young  soldiers;  but  it  is  far 
below  the  American  or  European  level.  Now  there  are 
many  officers  who  have  not  been  through  Chapultepec, 
many  who  have  been  promoted  from  the  ranks,  many 
who  have  volunteered  as  "  cadets  "  and  after  a  short 
time  been  gladly  commissioned  as  lieutenants.  Instead 
of  seeing  subalterns  with  grey  whiskers  and  decrepit 
captains  tottering  in  their  walk  one  now  finds  boys  as 
majors  and  colonels  of  thirty.  Even  amongst  the  aged 
generals  one  young  man  of  thirty-three  has  forced  his 
way.  Yet  this  influx  of  youth  has  changed  the  Army 
very  little.  In  the  course  of  a  campaign  it  is  difficult 
to  build  up  organization,  and  unfortunately  there  was 
no  framework  to  start  with. 


AN  OPERA  BOUFFE  ARMY  163 

The  Mexican  Army  has  no  Army  Service  Corps,  no 
medical  department  to  speak  of.  It  carries  no  camp 
equipment,  no  supplies.  Watch  a  field  force  break 
camp  at  dawn.  First  there  go  pattering  off  a  horde 
of  women  laden  with  pots  and  pans,  blankets,  some- 
times babies.  These  are  the  soldaderas,  the  camp 
followers,  the  commissariat  of  the  force.  That  they 
move  as  quickly  as  they  do  is  a  miracle.  Whatever  the 
day's  march  may  be,  they  are  always  on  the  camping 
ground  before  the  men  arrive.  They  rig  up  shelters, 
they  cook  tortillas  and  frijoles  (maize  cakes  and  beans) , 
they  make  coffee.  You  see  them  mending  their 
husbands'  coats,  washing  their  shirts,  roughly  tending 
flesh  wounds.  Without  these  soldaderas  the  Army 
could  not  move.  While  President  Huerta  was  seizing 
hundreds  of  men  by  night  in  Mexico  City  and  other 
cities  in  order  to  swell  his  forces  to  a  hundred  thousand, 
he  also  had  women  "  pressed  "  to  go  with  the  new 
soldiers  and  take  care  of  them.  Criadas  (maid- 
servants) were  positively  afraid  to  be  out  after  dark. 

This  extraordinary  system  accounts  for  the  immo- 
bility of  the  Federal  troops.  Compared  with  the  rebels 
they  are  leaden-footed.  They  cling  to  the  railways  and 
to  the  box-cars,  in  which  they  live  with  some  comfort. 
Man  for  man,  so  far  as  I  have  seen,  the  Revoltosos  are 
better  men,  and  they  are  all  mounted.  The  way  to 
deal  with  them  would  be  to  send  out  flying  columns  : 
to  keep  them  moving,  which  they  would  dislike  ex- 
ceedingly; and  to  execute  sweeping  movements  over 
a  large  area  until  they  were  "  rounded  up  "  into  a  place 
where  they  could  be  effectively  shelled.  Nothing  of 
this  kind  is  attempted.  The  endeavour  of  each  side  is 
in  most  cases  to  avoid  the  other.  A  train  full  of 
soldiers  went  out  of  Tampico  to  reconnoitre.  It 


164  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

sighted  a  train  full  of  rebels.  Each  train  went 
back  ! 

The  stratagems  of  an  active  general  like  Villa,  who 
is  the  best  soldier  the  rebels  have,  are  resented.  He  is 
not  considered  to  be  "  playing  the  game/'  In  a  club 
one  day  a  Mexican  complained  to  me  of  the  trick  by 
which  Juarez  was  taken  as  "  shameful."  Villa  seized 
the  railway,  piled  his  men  into  trains,  forced  the 
telegraph  operators  to  announce  these  as  freight  trains, 
and  turned  his  troops  out  in  the  city  before  the  author- 
ities had  any  suspicion  that  they  were  on  the  way. 
"  Shameful !  "  my  Mexican  acquaintance  declared. 
Another  day  I  asked  a  Mexican  war  correspondent 
who  had  been  present  at  a  small  fight  whether  the 
Federal  loss  was  heavy.  "  Very/'  he  said,  and  then 
in  horrified  tone  added,  "  they  killed  a  colonel." 

Against  such  an  army  as  this  any  United  States 
expeditionary  force  would  have  in  pitched  battles  an 
unpleasantly  easy  task.  I  have  seen  something  of  the 
cavalry  training,  which  is  very  like  mounted  infantry 
training,  of  the  United  States  Army;  it  is  very  good 
indeed.  I  believe  the  War  Department  at  Washington 
reckons  that  200,000  men  would  be  required  for  a 
Mexican  expedition.  That  would  be  for  the  policing 
of  the  country.  The  probable  loss  of  men  is  estimated 
at  25,000,  and  the  cost  of  a  campaign  at  £400,000  a  day. 
By  far  the  greater  part  of  such  a  force  as  this  would  be 
members  of  the  National  Guard  and  volunteers,  who 
would  have  to  be  put  through  some  training  before 
they  could  take  the  field.  The  Regular  Army  numbers 
66,000 — 30  regiments  of  infantry  and  15  of  cavalry. 
Of  these  n  infantry  regiments  and  two  of  cavalry  are 
in  the  Philippines.  There  seems  to  be  little  doubt 
that,  if  the  President  called  for  men,  enough  would 


AN   OPERA  BOUFFE  ARMY  165 

answer,  and  there  is  no  doubt  at  all  that  they  would 
have  no  difficulty  in  winning  battles  and  capturing 
towns. 

The  difficulty  would  lie  in  suppressing  guerilla  war- 
fare among  the  mountains,  in  the  jungles,  wherever 
the  country  offered  good  cover  for  "  sniping  "  and 
sudden  attacks  upon  small  detachments.  It  would  be 
necessary  to  put  in  force  a  measure  like  the  Crimes  Act 
in  Land  League  Ireland,  which  would  make  it  a  serious 
and,  if  necessary,  a  capital  offence  to  possess  arms. 
This  would  mean  that  the  United  States  would  have  to 
govern  Mexico  for  an  indefinite  period.  It  would  mean 
annexation ;  and  that  the  United  States  do  not  desire 
or  intend  to  annex  Mexico  has  been  authoritatively 
declared.  Where,  then,  is  the  remedy?  The  only 
hope  lies  in  the  creation  of  a  Mexican  Army  capable  of 
keeping  order.  If  no  Mexican  ruler  is  equal  to  this 
task,  then  some  one  else  must  do.  That  some  one 
should  clearly  be  the  United  States. 


XVII 

CHAPALA   AND  GUADALAJARA 

THERE  are  as  yet  in  Mexico  few  places  which  offer 
themselves  ready-made  to  the  holiday-maker.  For 
certain  kinds  of  holiday  no  country  could  be  better. 
If  you  enjoy  riding  away  from  civilization,  over 
mountains,  across  vast  plains,  sleeping  rough  and  faring 
like  a  pioneer,  you  can  take  your  fill  of  such  pleasure, 
and  come  back  sun-browned,  hardy,  your  body  lean 
and  lithe  from  hard  exertion,  your  eyes  with  that 
mystic  gleam  in  them  which  tells  of  looking  into  the 
face  of  Nature  and  roving  through  the  vast  empty 
spaces  of  the  world.  If  you  shoot,  if  you  fish,  if  you 
botanize,  if  you  study  dead  races,  Mexico  is  a  rich 
field  for  you.  But  of  "  pleasure  resorts  "  there  are  few. 

Cuernavaca  is  the  only  one  which  approaches  the 
American  or  European  conception.  Here  there  are 
expensive,  cosmopolitan  hotels,  there  is  a  social  round 
of  small  gaieties,  there  are  many  pleasant  easy  excur- 
sions to  be  made.  Only  a  few  hours  from  the  capital 
by  train  or  motor,  it  is  perched  on  a  ridge  overlooking 
a  magnificent  view.  Further,  a  romantic  charm  is 
lent  to  it  by  the  beautiful  Borda  Garden,  laid  out  by 
a  wealthy  Frenchman  in  the  eighteenth  century  on  a 
steep  hillside  behind  the  town,  and  much  beloved  by 
Maximilian  and  Carlotta,  the  unhappy  young  Emperor 
and  Empress  whose  short  and  lurid  reign  added  a 
scarlet  blot  to  the  stained  pages  of  Mexican  history. 

166 


CHAP  ALA  AND   GUADALAJARA        167 

Their  coach  is  in  the  museum  of  Mexico  City;  a 
famous  painting  by  Manet  recalls  for  a  few  the  young 
monarch's  execution ;  their  ghosts  walk  in  the  Borda 
Garden  :  but  to  the  world  they  are  a  forgotten  episode. 
Most  of  the  fifteen  millions  in  Mexico  have  never  even 
heard  their  names. 

Maximilian  was  imposed  upon  Mexico  by  France, 
or  rather  by  Napoleon  the  Third,  at  a  time  when  the 
state  of  the  country  was  such  as  it  is  to-day.  Napo- 
leon's idea  was  that  "  the  founding  of  a  regular  govern- 
ment "  would  keep  out  the  United  States  and  create  a 
market  for  French  commerce.  He  sent  an  army  across 
the  Atlantic,  occupied  Puebla  and  Mexico  City,  and 
induced  the  Mexican  Clericals,  then  calling  themselves 
the  Conservative  Party,  to  offer  the  crown  to  the  Arch- 
duke Maximilian  of  Austria.  The  new  Emperor  and 
the  beautiful  Empress  Carlotta  arrived  in  1864.  For  a 
while  they  strove  by  studied  extravagance  to  appeal 
to  the  garish  instincts  of  their  adopted  race.  But 
Mexico  would  have  none  of  them.  Under  Benito 
Juarez,  whose  statue  stands  in  every  Mexican  city,  a 
revolution  gained  rapid  force.  Napoleon  refused  to 
help  his  nominee,  although  the  Empress  pleaded 
piteously  with  him.  By  the  summer  of  1867  all  was 
over.  Maximilian  had  been  captured  and  shot, 
Carlotta  was  a  fugitive,  a  Republic  was  proclaimed  once 
more.  The  pitiful  couple  left  no  mark  upon  the 
country  save  faint,  fragrant  memories,  such  as  those 
at  Cuernavaca,  of  their  love  of  beautiful  things. 

Further  off  from  the  capital  than  Cuernavaca,  about 
twelve  hours'  journey,  lies  Lake  Chapala,  which  will 
in  time  become  a  playground  rivalling  the  Swiss  and 
the  Italian  lakes.  For  the  whole  of  its  seventy  miles' 
length— it  is  about  twenty  broad — this  inland  sea; 


168  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

"  El  Mar  Chapalico,"  is  guarded  by  mountains  and 
forests.  As  yet  there  are  few  places  on  its  shores 
which  set  themselves  to  attract  visitors.  Chapala 
Village  has  a  few  simple  inns.  Ribera  Castellanos  is 
the  best  point  at  which  to  stay,  for  here  there  is  a 
modern  hotel,  very  prettily  situated  and  very  com- 
fortable. I  had  some  delightful  experiences  at  Ribera. 
Not  the  least  delightful  was  the  walk  I  took  through  an 
orange  and  grape-fruit  orchard,  not  only  admiring  the 
trees  hung  thickly  with  their  golden  lamps,  but  picking 
and  eating  as  I  went.  The  sun  was  hot,  and  I  had 
had  a  long,  dusty  drive.  Nothing  could  have  given  a 
parched  throat  more  delicious  relief. 

Long  and  dusty  as  the  drive  was  in  a  swaying 
"  cocheY'  I  enjoyed  it  immensely.  It  was  Sunday 
morning,  and  the  Indians  were  coming  along  the  road 
to  Mass  and  market  in  the  little  town  of  Ocotlan.  The 
men  were  all  in  white.  Their  red  "  sarapes  "  (blankets) 
either  hung  neatly  folded  over  their  left  shoulders  or, 
if  they  were  mounted,  served  as  saddle-cloths.  Earlier 
they  had  used  their  "  sarapes "  as  overcoats.  I 
started  soon  after  seven,  and  all  the  figures  I  saw  were 
muffled  up  to  the  eyes,  only  some  twelve  inches  of  loose 
white  trouser  appearing  below  the  red. 

Pleasant  people  they  were  along  the  high-road, 
smiling  back  if  you  smiled  at  them,  lifting  their  hands 
to  their  huge-brimmed,  high-coned  hats  with  a  natural, 
easy  grace  as  they  murmured,  "  Buenas  dias  "  to  my 
driver  and  me.  Many  horsemen  had  their  wives  either 
behind  them,  pillion-fashion,  or  in  front,  as  the  Sabine 
women  were  carried  by  their  Roman  abductors. 
Those  who  walked  were  mostly  "  huarachi  "  (sandal) 
wearers,  and  I  admired  their  sense  (though  perhaps  it 
was  necessity  !).  A  good  many  went  barefoot.  Here 


CHAPALA  AND  GUADALAJARA    169 

and  there  by  the  roadside  groups  of  women  and  children 
sat  resting  in  harmonious  poses  of  unstudied  pic- 
turesqueness.  The  women's  costume  was  a  long  cotton 
veil,  drawn  over  the  head  and  reaching  to  the  feet, 
just  such  a  covering  as  the  women  of  the  Bible  wore — 
Hagar  in  the  Wilderness  or  Ruth  at  the  Well. 

In  Octolan  the  stores  were  full  as  I  passed  through. 
The  fruit  stalls  on  one  side  of  the  narrow  street  gleamed 
with  piled-up  oranges.  On  the  other  side  the  shady 
"  Portales  "  (a  covered  arcade)  were  filled  with  gossip- 
ing peons.  On  the  pretty  little  plaza  sat  or  strolled 
among  the  orange-trees  small  farmers  in  tight  grey 
short  jackets  and  riding-trousers,  something  like  the 
breeches  which  are  called  in  India  "  jodhpur  " ;  dandies 
with  silver  spurs  or  hats  heavily  embroidered  with 
gold  lace;  "  rancher os  "  and  "  rurales,"  smart  young 
officers  and  laughing,  chattering  girls. 

The  town  left  behind,  I  came  in  sight  of  gleaming 
water,  and  soon  Lake  Chapala,  surrounded  by  its  misty 
mountains,  was  full  in  view.  It  has  been  compared 
with  the  Italian  Lakes,  but  the  only  one  of  which  it 
reminded  me  was  Gar  da.  There  is  a  nobility,  a  wild 
grandeur  about  it  which  trim  Como  cannot  match. 
There  is  good  fishing  in  the  lake,  and  the  fish  are  good 
eating.  There  is  also  quite  wonderful  wildfowl  shoot- 
ing. Herons,  egrets,  and  pelicans  are  indigenous. 
Millions  of  duck  and  geese,  of  widgeon,  teal,  and  pintails 
spend  the  winter  here — or  it  would  be  more  correct  to 
say  spend  here  the  months  which  are  wintry  in  other 
climes.  On  Lake  Chapala  it  is  summer  always.  I 
bathed  and  found  the  water  really  warm.  I  was  out  in 
a  motor-launch  until  dark  fell :  there  was  not  a  touch 
of  chilliness  in  the  air.  Nights  and  early  mornings 
are  fresh.  You  want  a  blanket  to  sleep  under  all  the 


170  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

year  round.  But  the  temperatures  vary  very  little 
between  July  and  January,  and  days  without  sunshine 
are  scarcely  known. 

On  the  well-irrigated  hacienda,  which  grows  the 
grape-fruit,  there  flourish  also  wheat  and  maize. 
Strawberries  ripen  every  day  of  the  year.  Of  course  it 
is  an  American,  not  a  Mexican,  property,  an  example 
of  what  can  be  done  with  the  land  when  enterprise 
is  applied  to  it.  You  may  well  ask  how  wheat  and 
oranges  can  grow  together.  The  explanation  is  that 
this  lake  region  is  5,000  feet  high.  That  accounts  for 
the  dry  and  equable  climate,  for  the  invigorating  tang 
in  the  air. 

Only  fifty  miles  away  lies  the  city  of  Guadalajara 
(the  "  j  "  pronounced  as  "  h  "),  which  is  also  famous 
for  its  blue  skies,  its  perpetual  sunshine,  and  its  bracing 
mountain  air.  Next  to  the  capital  it  has  the  finest 
appearance,  the  best  shops,  the  most  flourishing  com- 
merce of  all  the  cities  of  the  Republic.  Mr.  Holmes, 
the  popular  British  Vice-Consul,  was  kind  enough  to 
go  with  me  through  the  principal  large  stores.  Six 
drapery  shops  of  a  good  class  are  all  French.  Here,  as 
elsewhere,  the  hardware  trade  is  German.  I  was  sur- 
prised at  the  character  of  the  stocks  until  I  heard  that 
Guadalajara  boasts  of  eighty  peso-millionaires,  that  is, 
men  worth  £100,000  or  more.  This  accounts  for  the 
number  of  fine  houses  in  the  "  colonias,"  as  well  as 
for  the  rich  carpets  and  good  furniture  and  expensive 
china  and  glass  in  the  stores. 

I  saw  some  examples  of  Mexican  cabinet-making 
skill.  The  talent  shown  for  copying  was  remarkable. 
Furniture  made  here  from  German  and  Austrian 
designs  could  only  be  distinguished  by  close  examina- 
tion from  the  real  thing.  British  goods  are  not  much 


CHAPALA  AND  GUADALAJARA    171 

in  evidence ;  they  can  be  discovered  if  they  are  looked 
for,  but  there  might  be  many  more  "  lines  "  of  them. 
I  heard  here  the  same  stories  of  British  commercial 
stupidity  as  I  have  heard  in  so  many  countries  where 
markets  are  developing. 

From  a  firm  at  Ipswich  two  agricultural  machines 
were  ordered.  These  gave  complete  satisfaction,  and 
it  was  suggested  to  the  firm  that,  if  they  sent  out  some 
catalogues,  they  would  be  sure  to  receive  further 
orders.  They  replied  that  they  would  be  happy  to 
send  catalogues,  at  the  price  of  two-and-sixpence 
apiece  !  Even  more  "  penny  wise  and  pound  foolish  " 
was  the  niggardliness  of  a  British  firm  of  engineers  who 
tendered  for  the  carrying  out  of  a  large  public  work. 
They  found  that  they  could  save  a  few  pence  on  the 
postage  of  their  blue-prints  if  they  were  to  reduce  them 
in  size.  They  cut  them  down,  therefore,  mutilating 
their  diagrams,  saved  their  pennies,  and  had  their 
tender  contemptuously  thrown  aside. 

Guadalajara  used  to  be  so  prosperous  that  it  had  for 
a  long  time  very  little  revolution.  On  the  big  estates 
an  almost  patriarchal  system  prevails,  feudalism  in  its 
better  aspect.  In  the  town  there  was  plenty  of  work. 
In  the  mines  the  peons  were  content.  Now  the  labourer 
finds  work  scarce.  Industry  languishes,  with  three 
parts  of  the  country  given  over  to  civil  war.  Many 
mines  are  shut  down.  What  can  the  unemployed 
"  pelado  "  do  but  join  the  "  bandidos  "?  He  steals 
a  horse,  borrows  a  rifle  with  no  intention  of  returning 
it,  and  belongs  to  a  roving  band  of  marauders. 

The  increase  of  these  bands  and  the  advance  of  an 
organized  rebel  force  from  the  west  make  Guadalajara 
nervous,  though  you  would  not  think  it  from  the  gaiety 
of  the  streets.  Yet  every  one  is  asking  quietly  for 


172  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

news,  "  Que  hay  de  nuevo  ?  "  Even  the  pretty  misses 
who  walk  under  the  Portales,  looking  at  you  with  frank, 
open,  honest  eyes,  have  tremors  of  apprehension  when 
they  hear  of  the  Revoltosos'  abominable  crimes. 

The  women  here  are  of  a  most  attractive  type. 
Many  have  brown  or  fair  hair  instead  of  shiny  black. 
They  are  in  appearance  far  more  "  white "  than 
Mexican  (that  distinction  is  usually  drawn),  and  the 
reason  is  that  this  State  of  Jalisco  was  colonized  by 
Andalusians,  the  aristocracy  of  Spain.  The  good  stock 
has  always  been  kept  up,  though  it  is  now  far  more 
noticeable  among  women  than  men.  Many  of  these 
handsome  girls,  who  have  been  to  school  abroad,  will 
not  marry  Mexicans.  Some  Englishmen  and  a  good 
many  Germans  have  profited  by  this  to  make  rich 
marriages,  and,  I  am  told,  usually  happy  marriages  as 
well. 

The  difference  between  European  and  Mexican  young 
men  is  well  understood  by  mothers,  one  of  whom  said 
to  a  handsome  English  friend  of  mine,  quite  a  young 
man  and  unmarried,  "  I  don't  mind  my  daughters 
going  to  the  Country  Club  under  your  charge,  sefior; 
I  know  they  are  perfectly  safe  with  you."  A  pretty 
place  this  Country  Club,  with  a  dozen  tennis  courts  of 
rolled  earth,  and  a  riot  of  flowering  creepers  and  bushes 
— in  November. 

The  mention  of  marriage  reminds  me  that  while  I 
was  in  Guadalajara  a  very  fashionable  wedding  was 
celebrated ;  the  invitations  bade  the  guests  first  to  the 
Cathedral,  then  to  a  "  lunch-sooper."  I  could  not 
discover  exactly  what  this  meal  was ;  it  had  a  Gargan- 
tuan sound.  Probably  it  meant  a  go-as-you-please 
entertainment  lasting  from  midday  until  late  at  night. 
At  one  "  wedding  breakfast  "  to  which  a  friend  of 


CHAPALA  AND  GUADALAJARA    173 

mine  went  the  fare  consisted  chiefly  of  champagne  and 
sausages.  This  same  friend  once  sent  a  very  fine  cut- 
crystal  flower  bowl  as  a  wedding  present.  When  he 
went  to  call  on  the  newly  married  couple,  he  could  not 
find  it.  At  last  he  saw  it  on  the  floor.  Its  purpose 
had  been  mistaken.  It  was  being  used  as  a  spittoon. 

The  Cathedral  is  rather  odd  than  beautiful.  Inside, 
the  decoration  is  all  white  and  gold,  which  strikes  a 
theatrical  rather  than  a  devotional  note.  Outside, 
every  style  of  architecture  is  represented.  Two  huge 
Byzantine  towers  dominate  a  group  of  buildings,  some 
of  which  are  Gothic,  some  Moorish,  some  Doric,  some 
Corinthian.  The  effect  is  not  so  bad  as  it  sounds. 
Chief  treasure  of  the  Cathedral  is  Murillo's  "  Assump- 
tion of  the  Virgin/'  a  good  example  of  the  Spanish 
master's  florid  sentimentalism.  I  have  only  one 
quarrel  with  the  excellent  guide  to  Mexico  written  by 
Mr.  T.  Philip  Terry,  a  guide  on  Baedeker  lines,  but 
very  much  more  human  than  Baedeker,  to  which  every 
visitor  to  Mexico  becomes  affectionately  attached. 
I  cannot  understand  his  passion  for  the  paintings  of 
Murillo. 

Some  day,  if  ever  the  revolution  ceases,  Guadalajara 
will  grow  rapidly  into  a  great  city.  Its  population  is 
already  135,000,  though,  as  a  witty  Frenchman  put  it 
to  me,  "  only  ten  thousand  count/'  I  asked  him  to 
explain. 

"  Why,"  he  said,  "  you  cannot  count  people  who 
neither  sit  on  chairs  nor  sleep  in  beds,  and  who  would 
not  know  what  to  do  with  a  knife  and  fork." 

That  is  how  the  bulk  of  the  Indians  live.  But  in 
time  they  will  learn,  as  the  Indians  of  the  north  have 
learned,  to  want  boots  and  furniture ;  brass  bedsteads 
and  bicycles ;  gramophones  to  grind  out  Harry  Lauder, 


174  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

as  I  heard  one  doing  the  other  day  in  a  village  "  can- 
tina/'  a  group  of  half -naked  peons  standing  round  with 
puzzled  faces,  but  enjoying  it  all  the  same  ! 

By  that  time  the  Southern  Pacific  Railway  will  have 
finished  its  line  from  Sonora  to  Jalisco,  and  will  perhaps 
be  continuing  it  to  Mexico  City,  along  the  shore  of  Lake 
Chapala.  Then  there  will  be  pleasure  towns  on  the 
edge  of  the  water,  instead  of  the  tiny  villages  with 
fishing-boats  drawn  up  on  white  sandy  beaches  and 
just  a  handful  of  cottages  clustered  round  a  white- 
washed little  church.  Those  who  want  to  enjoy  the 
finest  climate  in  the  world,  before  the  world  at  large 
gets  to  know  about  it,  had  better  make  haste. 


XVIII 

THE  CHURCH  AND  THE   CATHOLIC   PARTY 

SINCE  Guadalajara  is  one  of  the  chief  centres  of 
clerical  influence  in  Mexico,  something  may  appro- 
priately be  said  here  about  the  Catholic  Party.  But 
first  a  word  of  warning  against  the  notion  that  in 
Mexico  the  "  party  system "  really  obtains.  The 
party  system  belongs  to  the  machinery  of  what  we  call 
constitutional  government,  and  to  expect  genuine 
constitutional  government  in  Mexico  is  fatuous. 

According  to  President  Wilson  (I  quote  from  a 
lecture  which  he  gave  at  Columbia  University  in  1908), 
the  ideal  of  any  such  system  must  be  "a  definite 
understanding;  if  need  be,  a  formal  pact,  between 
those  who  submit  to  it  and  those  who  are  to  conduct  it, 
with  a  view  to  making  Government  an  instrument  of 
the  general  welfare  rather  than  an  arbitrary,  self- 
willed  master  doing  what  it  pleases." 

An  excellent  definition,  and  one  which  makes  it  clear 
that  no  such  system  is  yet  possible  in  Mexico.  For  the 
mind  of  that  country  is  still  in  that  stage  in  which 
Government  appears  to  be  a  force  operating  from 
above. 

For  example,  certain  of  their  pleasures,  such  as 
robbing  and  killing,  are  known  to  be  "  wrong,"  that  is, 
dangerous,  so  long  as  they  are  swiftly  and  severely 
punished.  The  moment  the  arm  of  the  law  weakens, 
country  districts  are  infested  by  bandits.  The  police- 

175 


176  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

man,  well  mounted,  armed  with  carbine  and  revolver, 
was,  under  Diaz,  the  safeguard  of  social  security. 
Now  that  the  character  of  the  Rurales  has  altered  for 
the  worse,  and  that  the  finest  of  them  have  been  drawn 
into  the  Army,  Mexico  is  no  longer  a  safe  land  to  live 
in,  either  for  foreigners  or  for  its  own  people.  Pillage 
and  murder  stalk  abroad  again,  unchecked  by  the 
strong  hand  of  authority.  That  furnishes  a  vivid 
illustration  of  the  very  long  distance  which  the  Mexicans 
have  to  travel  before  they  can  in  any  real  sense  of 
democracy  begin  to  govern  themselves  after  the  fashion 
of  England  or  the  United  States. 

What  deceives  the  superficial  observer  is  the  existence 
of  the  forms  of  constitutionalism.  There  are  all  the 
trappings  and  the  suits  of  party  government — elections, 
a  Parliament,  a  Council  of  Ministers,  a  written  Con- 
stitution with  128  articles,  all  breathing  the  most 
advanced  liberal  sentiments.  But  these  are  shams. 
There  is  nothing  which  "  passeth  show  "  behind  them. 
How  could  it  be  otherwise  in  a  country  where  out  of 
15,000,000  inhabitants  there  are  11,000,000  unable  to 
read  or  write,  and  as  many  as  2,000,000  of  remote 
Indians  who  do  not  even  understand  Spanish,  the 
official  language  of  their  race  ? 

The  same  lack  of  reality  comes  to  light  when  one 
examines  into  the  political  parties  of  Mexico.  One 
finds  that  they  have  next  to  no  influence,  and  their 
proposals  little  bearing  upon  actual  conditions.  They 
formulate  vague  generalities,  and  are  satisfied.  The 
only  era  in  which  Mexican  politicians  were  divided  by 
a  clear  and  definite  issue  was  that  in  which  the  Liberals 
attacked  and  the  Clericals  defended  Church  privilege 
and  Church  property.  That  struggle  was  ended  by 
the  common  sense  of  President  Diaz,  who  allowed  the 


THE   CHURCH  AND   CATHOLIC  PARTY    177 

anti-Church  laws  to  remain,  but  did  not  enforce  them. 
Religious  bodies  are  still  precluded  from  holding 
property  or  giving  education.  Priests  are  forbidden 
to  wear  distinctive  dress  in  public.  Church  bells  are 
not  allowed  to  be  rung.  Yet  all  these  prohibitions 
are  evaded.  If  an  indiscreet  or  over-zealous  inspector 
should  visit  a  convent,  the  nuns  hide  themselves  or 
put  off  their  habits.  Bells  are  struck  instead  of  being 
swung.  In  their  readiness  to  accept  appearances  the 
Mexicans  betray  their  Asiatic  descent. 

But  although  the  Church  has  little  to-day  to  com- 
plain of,  she  still  seeks  to  keep  up  her  influence  in 
politics.  The  only  party  which  has  anything  like  a 
definite  programme  or  a  widespread  organization  is 
the  Catholic  Party.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt,  I 
think,  that  if  the  latest  Presidential  elections  had  been 
free  and  fair  the  Catholic  Party's  candidate,  Sefior 
Gamboa,  would  have  been  elected.  The  Catholic 
Church  has  the  allegiance  of  90  per  cent,  of  Mexico's 
population.  It  has  no  competitor.  Its  influence,  if 
it  were  permitted  to  exercise  it,  would  be  immense. 
In  thousands  of  villages  what  the  priest  orders  is  law. 
I  know  of  one  town  in  Jalisco,  a  very  churchy  state, 
where  out  of  816  votes  cast  800  were  given  to  the 
Catholic  candidate.  That  will  undoubtedly  happen  in 
many  parts  of  the  country  if  ever  elections  are  con- 
ducted as  President  Wilson  wishes  them  to  be.  Would 
he  and  the  people  of  the  United  States  feel  any  satis- 
faction in  knowing  that  they  had  substituted  a  clerical 
despotism  for  a  military  despotism?  Of  the  two  the 
former  is  usually  the  worse. 

The  leaders  of  the  Catholic  Party  have  assured  me 
that  their  aims  are  not  clerical.  They  have  avoided 
calling  themselves  Conservatives  for  fear  of  being  con- 

N 


178  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

fused  with  the  old  Conservatives,  who  really  were 
"  Clericals."  In  their  published  programme  there  is 
nothing  to  which  objection  could  be  raised,  even  by 
Benito  Juarez,  the  President  who  curbed  the  Church's 
power.  Furthermore,  the  present  head  of  the  Church 
in  Mexico,  Archbishop  Jose  Mora  y  del  Rio,  is  a  man  of 
open-minded  and  statesmanlike  views.  He  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  Vatican  through  the  direct  intervention 
of  President  Diaz;  his  influence  has  been  cast  on  the 
side  of  wise  toleration.  It  is  significant  that  he  was 
a  close  friend  of  the  head  of  the  American  Methodist 
Church  in  Mexico,  and  that  when  the  latter  left  the 
leading  Catholic  newspaper,  El  Pais,  deplored  his 
departure  and  highly  commended  his  work.  But 
not  even  a  liberal  Catholic  Party,  not  even  a  Primate 
like  Dr.  Mora  y  del  Rio,  could  hold  the  clerical  element 
back  if  ever  the  Church  became  the  supreme  power  in 
politics.  That  she  certainly  would  become  if  elections 
were  conducted  squarely  and  if  the  voting  system, 
which  would  then  allow  the  ignorant  and  priest-ridden 
peon  to  "  swing  "  the  country,  were  left  as  it  is  to-day. 
Nothing  is  said  by  the  Catholic  Party's  programme 
about  a  change  in  voting  qualifications.  That  can 
easily  be  understood.  It  is  the  Catholic  Party  which 
stands  to  profit  by  priestly  exploitation  of  the  peon. 
What  does  seem  strange  is  that  the  Liberal  Party, 
which  has  everything  to  lose  by  the  continuance  of 
present  methods,  should  not  advocate  electoral  reform. 
Yet  it  would  be  stranger  in  effect  if  the  so-called  Liberal 
Party  should  advocate  anything.  To  speak  accurately, 
one  should  say  "  Liberal  Parties,"  since  there  are  more 
than  twenty  competing  groups,  each  of  which  claims 
the  title.  They  have  neither  leaders  nor  principles  in 
common.  They  make  no  effective  appeal  for  support. 


THE  CHURCH  AND   CATHOLIC  PARTY    179 

It  is  hard  to  know  what  a  Liberal  in  Mexico  really  is. 
Even  General  Huerta  calls  himself  one.  So  does 
General  Felix  Diaz,  who  is  still  waiting  in  Havana  for 
"the  call  of  his  country;"  I  saw  him  there,  mildly 
hopeful,  persuaded  that  his  strength  lay  in  sitting  still. 
But  of  all  the  "  Felixistas  "  he  is,  I  fancy,  almost  the 
only  one  left.  His  irresolution  has  both  irritated  and 
alienated  his  friends.  They  see  that  those  people  were 
right  who  said  that  in  this  pleasant,  portly  gentleman 
there  was  not  the  stuff  of  which  greatness  is  made. 
Under  his  uncle  he  was  a  useful  as  well  as  an  ornamental 
Chief  of  Police.  But  those  who  fail  to  take  the  current 
when  it  serves  must  lose  their  ventures. 

It  is  a  pity,  for  he  could  have  won  the  support  of 
the  most  solid  elements  in  the  country.  Added  to  his 
popularity  with  the  masses  (mainly  due  to  his  name), 
this  would  have  put  him  in  a  very  strong  position. 
Then,  with  the  aid  of  the  best  men  available  for 
Ministers  and  Governors  of  States,  and  with  a  deter- 
mination to  rule  justly  as  well  as  firmly,  he  might  have 
given  Mexico  peace.  But  character  was  lacking;  the 
golden  opportunity  slipped  by.  That  is  the  more 
unfortunate  since  there  are  so  few  Mexicans  in  sight 
who  are  qualified,  either  by  ability  or  by  being  widely 
known,  to  take  the  helm  of  State. 

In  the  Catholic  Party  there  are  a  number  of  men 
whose  talent  is  above  the  average  and  who  in  sincerity 
of  purpose  also  rank  high.  But  there  is  none  who 
stands  out  with  the  mark  of  a  leader  upon  him.  Most 
of  the  chiefs  of  the  party  are  large  landowners,  and  they 
take,  as  is  natural,  the  landowner's  point  of  view. 
They  say  nothing  about  the  injustice  of  exempting 
the  huge  estates  from  taxation.  They  would  no  doubt 
oppose  even  a  tax  upon  uncultivated  land,  which  would 


180  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

help  to  break  up  these  properties.  Their  ideal  of 
government  for  Mexico  is  an  enlightened  paternalism, 
which,  could  it  but  be  realized,  and  did  it  wisely  share 
its  power  with  the  new  middle  class,  would  ideally  meet 
the  case.  But  in  that  qualification  "  enlightened  " 
the  difficulty  lies. 

The  Catholics  make  light  of  the  view  that  land-hunger 
is  at  the  root  of  Mexico's  troubles.  They  admit  that 
in  certain  districts,  notably  Morelos,  and  to  a  lesser 
extent  in  the  northern  States,  the  Indians  have  a 
grievance  which  ought  to  be  righted.  Their  lands 
have  been  unjustly  niched  from  them.  They  will 
never  be  quiet  until  they  get  plots  of  their  own.  But 
so  far  as  the  country  generally  is  concerned  the  Catholic 
leaders  say  that  the  land  question  has  little  to  do  with 
the  unrest. 

They  maintain  that  the  real  cause  of  the  trouble  lies 
in  the  farcical  character  of  the  elections  (which,  as  I 
have  explained,  keeps  them  out  of  office),  and  in  the 
corruption  which  exists  among  the  jefes  politicos. 
These  officials  are  appointed  by  the  Governors  of  states ; 
they  are  in  small  places  supreme  :  even  in  big  places 
they  are  sometimes  powerful  in  defiance  of  munici- 
palities. They  are  paid  very  little,  and  they  com- 
pensate themselves  by  oppression.  A  common  method 
of  augmenting  their  income  is  to  have  a  man  seized 
and  put  in  gaol,  either  on  a  trumped-up  charge  or  for 
some  trifling  offence  such  as  drunkenness  or  brawling. 
Word  is  conveyed  to  him  and  to  his  friends  that  a 
certain  sum  is  necessary  to  procure  his  release.  There 
is  no  one  to  appeal  to.  Magistrates  and  judges  are 
in  subjection  to  the  political  authority  (the  Catholic 
Party  propose  to  make  them  irremovable,  as  they  are 
in  England  and  as  all  honest  Americans  think  they 


THE   CHURCH  AND   CATHOLIC   PARTY     181 

should  be  in  the  United  States).  There  is  nothing  for 
it  but  to  pay.  The  jefe  politico  system,  say  the  Catholic 
leaders,  must  be  cleansed  of  its  abominations  before  the 
peon  can  feel  secure.  This,  they  consider,  weighs  far 
more  heavily  with  him  than  a  wish  for  a  small  holding. 

"  If  you  gave  him  land/'  said  one  of  the  most 
prominent  Catholic  Party  chiefs  when  we  were  dis- 
cussing this,  "  he  would  only  sell  it  and  then  complain 
that  the  buyer  had  robbed  him  of  it."  In  which  there 
is,  as  all  who  have  studied  the  peon  will  testify,  a  large 
element  of  truth.  But  this  must  be  recollected,  too — 
that  the  jefes  politicos  manage  the  elections  and  secure 
the  victory  of  the  candidate  whom  they  are  instructed 
by  the  President  through  the  Governors  of  states  to 
return.  Therefore  they  stand  in  the  Catholic  Party's 
way.  Since  honest  elections  would  enormously  benefit 
that  party,  "  Honest  elections  "  is  their  chief  cry. 

Yet  being,  as  they  are,  so  largely  an  agricultural 
party,  the  Catholics  have  naturally  something  to  say 
in  their  programme  about  the  land.  They  are  opposed 
strongly,  as  landlords,  to  the  Radical-Socialist  preach- 
ings of  the  "  Constitutionalistas  "  in  favour  of  a  general 
division  of  property.  But  they  are,  on  the  other  hand, 
firm  advocates  of  agricultural  co-operation.  In  several 
southern  states  there  obtains  a  system  by  which  the 
landowner  provides  the  cultivator  with  a  holding  of 
from  eight  to  twelve  or  even  twenty  acres,  supplies 
him  with  seed,  lends  him  a  plough,  with  sometimes  more 
elaborate  machinery,  and  receives  in  return  half  the 
produce.  That  system  does  not  make  for  advance  in 
agriculture,  for  many  landlords,  having  quite  enough 
to  live  upon  comfortably  in  Mexico  City  or  in  Paris, 
leave  their  tenants  to  follow  the  methods  of  the  Bible 
patriarchs;  but  it  seems  otherwise  to  be  reasonable 


182  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

enough,  unless  you  agree  with  the  Constitutionalists 
that  the  landlord  has  no  right  to  any  property  at  all. 
It  works  fairly  well  in  Jalisco,  where  society  is  still 
arranged  on  patriarchal,  or  feudal,  principles.  Here 
and  in  the  neighbouring  states  of  Michoacan,  Queretaro, 
and  Guanajuato  there  has  been  as  yet  little  serious 
trouble.  The  relation  between  many  owners  and 
cultivators  of  the  soil  is  one  of  friendliness  and  mutual 
respect. 

Even  the  rebels  are  ready  to  admit  that.  On  the 
hacienda  of  a  well-known  member  of  the  Amor  family 
a  party  of  Insurrectos  were  about  to  burn  and  ravage. 
The  peons  in  a  body  asked  them  to  forbear,  showed 
them  the  church  and  school  which  the  landlord  had 
built,  and  so  impressed  them  that  no  damage  whatever 
was  done.  Such  landlords,  and  there  are  not  a  few 
of  them,  are  ready  at  all  times  to  help  their  tenants. 

It  is  by  their  wish  and  with  the  intention  of  support- 
ing the  small-holder  that  the  Catholic  Party  programme 
demands  land  credit  banks,  and  lays  stress  upon  the 
necessity  of  improving  agricultural  education.  At 
present  this  leaves  much  to  desire.  There  is  a  big 
building  in  the  capital  supposed  to  be  a  central  agricul- 
tural college.  It  is  really  a  home  for  any  friends  of 
officials  who  may  be  in  want  of  a  salary,  and  it  is  of 
no  use  whatever  to  the  farmer — so  many  practical 
agriculturists  have  assured  me.  Those  who  are  trying 
to  improve  Mexican  methods  of  cultivation  and  to 
introduce  new  crops  have  been  driven  to  seek  help 
from  the  United  States  Agricultural  Department  at 
Washington.  The  more  progressive  hacendados  have 
to  spend  considerable  sums  in  making  experiments 
themselves. 

Another  Catholic  proposal  is  that  the  32,000  Church 


THE  CHURCH  AND   CATHOLIC  PARTY    183 

schools  scattered  over  the  country  shall  receive  a  State 
grant.  That  is,  of  course,  looked  upon  by  some  people 
as  "  the  thin  edge  of  the  wedge."  But  Education  is 
such  a  large  theme  that  I  must  leave  it  for  another 
chapter.  Enough  has  been  said  here  to  show  that  the 
Catholic  Party  have,  even  though  their  professsions 
be  vague  and  wordy,  some  sound  and  progressive  aims. 
If  they  could  keep  themselves  free  from  Clericalism 
they  might  serve  their  country  well. 


XIX 

EDUCATION 

EDUCATION  is  the  modern  cure-all.  It  is  worshipped 
as  a  fetish.  It  is  murmured  as  an  incantation.  Its 
real  nature,  even  the  real  meaning  of  the  word,  is  in 
danger  of  being  obscured.  To  draw  out  the  best  that 
we  have  in  us,  so  that  we  may  find  our  proper  level  in 
life — that  is  an  ideal  most  worthy.  To  imagine  that 
by  a  certain  absorption  of  book-learning  all  may  be 
made  equal — that  is  moonshine.  President  Diaz  was 
too  shrewd  to  be  taken  in  by  any  hocus-pocus  of  the 
latter  kind,  but  he  did  allow  himself  to  use  "  the  need 
for  education  "  as  a  comforting  Mesopotamianic  phrase. 
He,  or  some  one  for  him,  framed  fervent  sentences 
about  it.  It  was  "  the  foundation  of  our  prosperity, 
the  basis  of  our  very  existence,  our  foremost  interest," 
et  patati  et  patata.  "  I  have,"  said  Don  Porfirio, 
"  created  a  public  school  for  boys  and  another  for  girls 
in -every  community  in  the  Republic."  Moreover,  he 
signed  with  his  own  hand  certificates  attesting  that 
little  Pedro  or  little  Josepha  had  passed  certain 
standards.  To  what  these  standards  amounted  he  did 
not  too  closely  inquire.  There  were  the  schools,  free 
to  all,  school  books  free  also.  There  was  the  entry 
in  the  accounts  of  every  State.  "  Instruction  Piib- 
lica,"  even  though  the  figure  against  it  was  often 
ludicrously  small.  After  all,  Don  Porfirio  was  a 

184 


EDUCATION  185 

great  Policeman,  not  a  great  Statesman,  so  it  was 
to  his  credit  that  he  did  anything  in  this  direction 
at  all. 

On  paper  the  Mexican  system  is  excellent.  Glowing 
accounts  of  it  have  been  written  by  British  and 
American  travellers,  who  accepted  in  a  humble  spirit 
whatever  plausible  politicians  in  Mexico  City  liked  to 
tell  them.  It  is  excellent  that  there  should  be  schools 
in  every  community.  But  what  if  the  system  some- 
times works  out  like  this?  What  if  the  community 
gets  its  grant,  and  the  grant  goes  into  somebody's 
pocket,  and  the  school  is  only  opened  for  ten  days  or 
so  in  a  year  at  the  season  when  the  inspector's  visit  is 
announced?  No  surprise  visits  in  Mexico;  nothing 
so  "  underhanded  "  as  that  !  And  suppose  that,  in 
schools  which  are  open  all  the  year,  the  teaching  is 
unskilled  and  unintelligent ;  that  there  is  far  too  much 
shouting  of  lessons  in  unison  and  next  to  no  individual 
development  :  that,  instead  of  inculcating  "  scholar- 
ship, industry,  and  patriotism,"  as  the  old  President 
claimed,  these  schools  do  little  to  dissipate  ignorance, 
idleness,  and  incivism?  Religious  teaching  in  the 
State  schools  is  forbidden,  and  the  32,000  Church  schools 
are  refused  grants.  They  are  on  definite  Catholic 
lines,  of  course;  for  the  rest  they  are  neither  better 
nor  worse  than  the  others.  President  Diaz  thought 
that  religion  would  be  imparted  at  home,  but  the 
homes  of  Mexico  City  seem  to  neglect  it  if  a  recent 
Minister  of  Education  was  right  in  describing  the 
schools  of  the  capital  as  "  manufactories  of  Zapatistas  " 
— Zapata  being  a  notorious  brigand  who  has  gathered 
around  him  desperadoes  without  pity  or  shame. 
There  was  in  that  gibe  exaggeration  due  to  impatience, 
but  there  is  a  kernel  of  truth  in  it,  just  as  there  is  some 


186  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

foundation  for  the  charge  that  the  American  Methodist 
schools  turn  their  pupils  into  revolutionists. 

The  condition  of  Mexico  is  so  deplorable  that  any 
one  who  is  taught  to  think  at  all  must  think  changes 
necessary,  and  the  easiest  line  of  argument  is  that  any 
change  must  be  better  than  none.  It  might  be  con- 
tended with  greater  force  that  any  school  is  better  than 
no  school.  But  most  of  those  in  Mexico,  whether 
judged  by  results  or  by  the  methods  practised  in  those 
which  I  visited,  leave  much  to  desire.  The  best  are  in 
the  north,  where  the  influence  of  the  United  States 
is  at  work.  Often  the  buildings  are  handsome  and 
convenient.  There  are  normal  schools  for  teachers, 
though  it  is  mostly  the  blind  who  lead  the  blind  in 
them.  Of  schools  above  the  elementary  level  there 
are  few,  and  those  few  are  so  poor  in  character  that 
almost  all  parents  of  the  "  educated  class  "  send  their 
children  either  to  the  United  States  or  to  Europe. 
Beaumont,  near  Windsor,  and  Stonyhurst  in  Lan- 
cashire, have  many  Mexican  "  old  boys." 

The  quality  lacking  in  Mexican  schools,  as  in  Mexican 
life  generally,  is  a  sense  of  reality.  The  children  are 
quick  at  learning,  receptive,  intelligent;  but  neither 
their  minds  nor  their  characters  are  solidified.  They 
change  lamentably  as  they  develop  in  body.  In- 
tellectually they  are  shallow;  their  judgments  are 
flighty,  their  opinions  ill  informed.  If  the  boys  played 
games  and  worked  off  their  animal  energy,  they  would 
grow  into  men  of  tougher  fibre.  Their  instability  of 
character  might  in  time  be  overcome.  They  have  as 
yet  little  determination  or  perseverance.  However, 
they  have  made  a  beginning  with  borrowed  games.  I 
saw  a  team  of  Mexican  young  men  playing  baseball 
against  Americans.  They  began  vigorously  and  for 


EDUCATION  187 

two-thirds  of  the  game  they  led.  Then  they  suddenly 
went  to  pieces.  The  Americans  played  resolutely  to 
make  up  the  ground  they  had  lost,  and  before  their 
"  grit  "  the  Mexicans  crumbled  away.  I  saw  a  football 
match  too.  This  was  arranged  on  the  lines  of  a  bull- 
fight. A  lady  was  chosen  to  preside ;  the  captains  of 
the  elevens  led  them  up  to  her  and  asked  if  they  might 
begin  !  They  showed  some  knowledge  of  the  game 
though. 

Very  few  Mexican  boys  take  any  regular  exercise  or 
undergo  any  character  training.  That  is  why,  when 
they  go  to  work,  they  periodically  fall  slack  and  have 
to  be  shaken  up.  On  the  surface  they  are  still  clever. 
They  talk  well ;  this  is  the  gift  of  the  race — or  perhaps 
"  curse  "  would  be  the  more  suitable  word.  But  their 
talk  does  not  lead  to  action.  They  have  no  firm  grasp 
of  realities ;  they  are  contented  with  shams.  At  Vera 
Cruz  when  I  was  embarking  a  German  was  in  trouble 
with  the  Customs.  He  was  ordered  to  fill  up  various 
forms  of  declaration,  and  he  had  to  write  out  on  several 
sheets  of  foolscap  a  complete  list  of  the  samples  his 
cases  contained.  When  he  took  this  in  to  be  checked, 
he  found  that  the  official  in  charge  was  an  acquaintance. 
"  That  is  all  right,"  the  Mexican  said,  and  signed  the 
documents  without  even  looking  at  them.  Formal  and 
fussy  as  they  often  are,  Mexicans  have  no  real  desire 
that  all  things  shall  be  done  decently  and  in  order.  In 
a  train  which  was  taking  troops  to  the  front  members 
of  the  "  Sanitary  Corps  "  were  prominent.  It  would 
be  impossible  to  imagine  anything  more  horrible  than 
the  sanitary  arrangements,  even  for  the  officers.  Add 
to  this  that  seventy  officers,  ranking  from  generals  to 
subalterns,  ate  and  slept  in  one  compartment  which 
was  never  cleaned,  never  swept  out  even,  and  of  which 


188  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

all  the  windows  were  shut  at  night  !  Yet  the  army  is 
proud  of  its  "  Sanitary  Corps."  With  Asiatic  sim- 
plicity they  prize  the  letter  which  killeth.  They  know 
nothing  of  the  spirit  which  giveth  life.  How  can  one 
expect  officers  who  have  been  so  ill-educated  that  they 
are  content  to  travel  in  such  indescribable  squalor  to 
cherish  a  keen  sense  of  personal  honour  ?  A  friend  of 
mine  secured  a  pass  for  himself  and  his  horse  on  a 
military  train.  The  lieutenant  in  charge  of  it  refused 
to  take  the  horse.  My  friend  was  puzzled.  There 
seemed  to  be  no  ground  for  the  refusal.  At  last  he 
offered  the  young  man  a  ten-peso  (£i)  note.  It  was  at 
once  accepted  and  the  animal  allowed  to  be  entrained. 
Legal  education  is,  I  believe,  good.  Medical  educa- 
tion, on  the  other  hand,  is  poor.  Here  are  two  cases  of 
Englishmen  who  have  suffered  severely  at  the  hands 
of.  Mexican  doctors.  One  who  was  very  ill  was  assured 
that  his  trouble  was  indigestion.  He  died  from  nothing 
else  than  lack  of  care.  The  other  had  a  gangrened 
wound  and  went  into  a  hospital,  where  they  set  about 
preparing  to  cut  off  his  arm.  Fortunately  he  was 
rescued  in  time,  taken  to  a  German  doctor,  and  cured 
without  any  surgery  at  all.  Foreigners  in  Mexico  can 
multiply  experiences  like  this  an  hundredfold.  The 
last  days  of  Don  Porfirio's  Presidency  were  clouded  by 
suffering  which  a  dentist  caused  him,  who  had  used  an 
unclean  instrument  in  his  mouth.  Mexicans,  in  spite 
of  some  notable  exceptions,  are  not  good  business  men 
either.  The  best  proof  of  this  is  that  almost  all  the 
business  of  the  country,  great  and  small  alike,  is  done 
by  foreigners.  Cashing  a  draft  in  a  Mexican  bank  is 
a  weary  process.  Clerks  and  cashiers  confer.  There 
is  much  running  about.  When  at  last  the  bearer  is 
held  to  have  proved  his  identity  the  delivery  of  the 


EDUCATION  189 

money  involves  another  long  delay.  This  is  due,  like 
military  slackness,  the  deficiencies  of  professional  men, 
and  the  scandalous  lives  of  too  many  priests,  to  the 
absence  of  any  sound  basis  in  education.  There  are 
many  able  men  in  the  country  of  pure  Spanish  stock, 
but  the  real  Mexican  can  seldom  think  rapidly  or  reason 
logically.  He  has  no  decision  of  character,  no  settled 
views. 

It  is  the  absence  of  a  sound  basis  in  education  which 
makes  the  real  Mexicans  like  children ;  bright  up  to  a 
point,  pleasant  mannered,  easy  to  get  on  with,  kindly, 
unassuming,  and  apparently  European;  but  without 
understanding  of  the  apparatus  of  civilization  which 
they  have  borrowed  ready-made,  and  utterly  unable 
to  appreciate  the  European  point  of  view.  Those  who 
deal  with  them  successfully  treat  them  as  children; 
many  have  told  me  the  secret.  Let  me  offer  one 
amusing  instance.  .A  certain  United  States  Consul 
(who  is  not,  as  some  in  the  north  are,  a  partisan  of  the 
revolution)  had  news  brought  to  him  that  a  train  had 
run  over  and  killed  a  Mexican.  Now  in  such  cases  the 
Mexican  practice  is  to  arrest  all  concerned,  and  to  keep 
them  in  solitary  confinement,  incommunicado,  for 
seventy-two  hours.  Frequently  witnesses  are  treated 
in  the  same  way,  which  explains  why  people  in  Mexico, 
when  they  see  a  street  accident,  hastily  pass  by  on  the 
other  side.  The  Consul  knew  that  the  crew  of  the  train, 
who  were  Americans,  would  be  at  once  taken  to  gaol 
unless  he  saved  them.  He  also  knew  that  it  would  be 
useless  to  protest,  for  the  Mexicans  would  have  law  on 
their  side.  So  he  decided  upon  a  stratagem.  He  went 
to  the  local  judge  before  whom  the  matter  would  come, 
and  talked  for  some  time  upon  general  subjects.  Then 
he  brought  the  conversation  round  to  this  law.  "  Sup- 


190  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

pose,'*  he  said,  "  a  train  knocked  a  man  down,  you 
would  not  in  that  case,  I  imagine,  commit  the  driver 
and  fireman  and  conductor  to  prison  until  you  had 
inquired  into  the  cause  of  the  accident  ?  "  "  Oh,  no," 
replied  the  magistrate  politely.  When,  a  little  later, 
he  was  informed  of  what  had  occurred,  he  could  not  go 
back  upon  what  he  had  said.  The  train-crew  were 
released. 

One  could  only  characterize  as  childish  the  callous- 
ness of  a  general  who  roared  with  laughter  when  his 
men  rolled  about  in  agony  after  eating  rat-poison  from 
a  shop  which  they  were  looting,  in  mistake  for  some 
potted  meat.  Nor  was  the  other  general  less  childish 
who  said  that  the  Americans  would  never  fight  because 
they  were  of  British,  German,  Dutch,  Russian,  Scandi- 
navian origin  (so  he  had  "  read  in  a  book  ")  and  hated 
each  other  worse  than  they  could  hate  any  one  else  ! 
Through  all  classes  this  same  strain  of  simplicity  runs. 
One  finds  it  reflected  in  the  newspapers.  Only  a 
credulous  people  could  put  up  with  them.  The  one 
journal  in  the  capital  which  has  any  sense  of  responsi- 
bility is  a  journal  published  in  English,  the  Mexican 
Herald.  El  Impartial,  the  Government  organ,  dis- 
tinguished itself  on  the  day  after  Parliament  had  been 
dissolved  and  no  members  thrown  into  prison,  by 
referring  to  these  events  in  a  paragraph  of  eleven  lines. 
In  every  case  of  a  Federal  disaster  the  newspapers  have 
kept  back  the  news  for  at  least  a  week.  They  print 
the  most  ridiculous  stories  and  then  forget  all  about 
them.  El  Pais,  the  Catholic  mouthpiece,  is  the  best, 
but  all  are  such  as  could  be  tolerated  only  by  a  race 
without  any  solid  instruction. 

To  seek  in  their  pages  any  comment  upon  the  events 
which  they  chronicle  is,  as  a  rule,  useless.  The  most 


EDUCATION  191 

disgraceful  perversions  of  justice  go  unrebuked.  I 
mentioned  in  an  earlier  chapter  a  Constitutionalist 
officer  who  spoke  of  himself  as  "  the  man  they  wanted 
to  burn."  His  name  is  Fuentes;  and  he  was  once 
Governor  of  the  State  of  Aguascalientes.  As  a  known 
revolutionary,  he  was  arrested  and,  in  March  1913,  was 
confined  in  the  Mexico  City  Penitentiary.  On  the 
night  of  March  25  the  Governor  of  the  Federal  District, 
a  nephew  of  General  Huerta,  went  to  the  Penitentiary 
and  demanded  that  Senor  Fuentes  and  two  other  men 
of  position  who  had  been  Governors  of  States  should  be 
delivered  up  to  him.  As  he  was  clearly  intoxicated, 
the  official  in  charge  declined  to  deliver  them  up. 
Enrique  Zepeda — this  was  the  Governor's  name — then 
went  to  another  prison  known  as  Belem,  got  possession 
of  a  prisoner  named  Gabriel  Hernandez,  had  him  shot, 
and  then  burned  his  body,  some  say  before  the  man 
was  dead.  Zepeda  was  brought  to  trial.  This  could 
not  be  avoided.  But  on  November  4,  1913,  he  was 
acquitted  on  the  ground  of  "  irresponsibility/'  which 
was  the  Court's  polite  way  of  saying  that  he  was  drunk. 
This  monstrous  result,  which  in  any  civilized  country 
would  have  loosed  a  torrent  of  denunciation,  was 
reported  without  remark. 

When  the  newspapers  do  publish  "  leading  articles  " 
their  comments  are  usually  couched  in  the  language 
of  bombast  and  hyperbole.  This  is,  of  course,  partly 
due  to  the  Spanish  idiom  which  inclines  to  roundabout 
and  gaseous  methods  of  speech.  It  is  a  lazy  language 
at  best.  Only  a  race  determined  to  save  themselves 
trouble  would  have  commuted  "  films  "  into  "  hijo," 
pronounced  "  eecho,"  ch  as  in  "  loch  " ;  "  mulier  "  into 
"mujer"  (moocher) ;  "  fideles  "  into  "fieles";  and 
"  periculosus  "  into  "  peligroso."  But  the  Mexican 


192  THE  REAL  MEXICO 

goes  even  further  than  the  Spaniard.  He  refuses  to 
roll  the  double  "  1."  Instead  of  "  Cabahlyo "  for 
"  caballo  "  (horse)  he  says  "  cah-by-yoh."  He  does 
not  lisp  his  "  c's  "  and  "  z's,"  like  the  Spaniard  of  the 
north,  but  pronounces  them  as  we  do,  and,  except  for 
his  indolence  with  regard  to  the  double  "1,"  the 
educated  Mexican  speaks  Spanish  purely,  and  his  speech 
falls  very  pleasantly  upon  the  ear. 

Such  news  as  one  can  find  in  Mexican  journals  is 
made  irritating  to  read  by  the  habit,  carried  to  excess, 
of  beginning  articles  on  one  page  and  continuing  them 
after  a  few  lines  upon  another,  or  upon  others.  One 
morning  I  found  the  heading  to  an  interview  with  a 
bull-fighter  scattered  throughout  a  "  leading  journal/' 
Bull-fighters  are  so  popular — they  occupy  the  public 
mind  far  more  than  football-players  in  Great  Britain 
or  baseball-players  in  the  United  States — that  I  suppose 
the  editor  felt  it  was  wise  to  pepper  such  important 
matter  all  over  his  pages.  Newspapers  of  this  character 
neither  inform  their  readers  accurately  nor  teach  them 
to  think.  They  miss  altogether  that  educational  in- 
fluence which  makes  the  Press  valuable.  Instead  of 
weaning  the  nation  from  its  childishness,  they  make  it, 
by  their  sycophancy,  their  unreality,  their  crying  of 
peace  where  there  is  no  peace,  more  childish  still. 


XX 

THE   OIL  RIVALRY   MYTH 

OUT  of  every  ten  Americans  who  spoke  to  me  about 
Mexico  as  I  went  through  the  United  States,  nine  at 
least  said  :  "  I  suppose  the  trouble  is  all  due  to  these 
rival  oil  companies  down  there."  That  suggestion  has 
been  spread  abroad,  whether  purposely  or  ignorantly, 
by  newspapers  and  periodicals  all  over  the  country. 
How  it  originated  I  cannot  find  out.  But  of  this  I 
am  satisfied — that  there  is  no  truth  in  it. 

Usually  the  struggle  is  said  to  be  between  "  Pearson's 
and  the  Standard  Oil."  It  pleases  the  American 
business  imagination  to  think  of  oil  companies  foment- 
ing and  financing  revolutions.  The  idea  of  a  fight 
for  concessions  between  British  and  American  capi- 
talists lends  to  the  war  news  an  added  thrill.  As  for 
evidence,  that  is  never  asked  for.  Nobody  inquires 
whether  the  Standard  Oil  Companies  have  any  large 
interests  in  the  Mexican  Oilfields.  No  one  looks 
up  the  concessions  that  have  been  granted,  to  see  if 
they  are  of  any  value.  The  vague  general  belief 
that  "  Standard  Oil  "  supported  Madero,  and  Lord 
Cowdray  keeps  General  Huerta  in  funds,  is  based, 
so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  discover,  upon  nothing 
stronger  than  loose  gossip. 

I  have  talked  to  the  leading  men  in  the  oil  industry, 
and  I  am  convinced  that  they  have  none  of  them  gone 
o  193 


194  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

out  of  their  way  to  back  up  either  side.  I  travelled 
on  a  certain  journey  with  the  manager  of  the  American 
company  which  is  supposed  to  be  working  for  the 
Constitutionalists,  and  I  knew  (although  he  did  not 
himself  say  anything  of  it)  that  he  was  nervous  about 
being  captured  by  them.  That  fact  did  not  square 
with  the  supposition.  Neither  did  the  sum  of  money 
paid  by  a  certain  British  Company  to  the  rebel 
General  Aguilar  prove  that  they  were  supporting 
the  revolution.  It  was  extorted  from  them  under 
threat  of  damage  to  the  oil  wells.  They  knew  that  the 
Huerta  Government  might  object,  as  it  objected  to  the 
payment  by  a  copper  company  at  Concepcion  del  Oro 
of  several  thousand  pounds  to  the  rebels  of  that  district. 
They  certainly  had  no  desire  to  finance  the  Insurrecto 
cause.  They  paid  because  they  were  obliged  to,  and 
they  felt,  I  have  no  doubt,  equally  aggrieved  with  the 
rebels  for  robbing  them,  and  with  General  Huerta 
because  he  did  not  protect  them  from  being 
robbed. 

It  is  true  that  the  leading  men  of  the  oil  industry 
held,  in  common  with  almost  every  foreigner  inhabit- 
ing Mexico,  that  the  recognition  of  Huerta  by  the 
United  States  ten  months  ago  would  have  been  best 
for  the  peace  of  the  country  and  for  the  benefit  of 
all  who  have  property  or  business  there.  But  no  one, 
I  believe,  entered  into  any  compact  with  him.  If 
Pearsons'  were,  as  people  in  the  United  States  say, 
"  behind  him,"  they  would  not  have  allowred  him  to 
impose  upon  the  oil  industry  a  heavy  war  tax.  If 
he  were,  as  is  so  often  suggested,  "  in  their  pocket/' 
he  would  not  have  permitted  his  Foreign  Minister, 
Senor  Moheno,  to  draw  up  a  scheme  (which  no  one 
takes  seriously)  for  nationalizing  the  oilfields  by 


THE   OIL   RIVALRY   MYTH  195 

arbitrarily  buying  out  the  present  owners  of 
wells. 

It  is  only  since  the  beginning  of  this  century  that 
the  wealth  of  Mexico  in  petroleum  has  been  discovered. 
How  vast  it  may  be  is  not  yet  known.  The  country 
where  oil  is  known  to  be  workable  extends  for  a  distance 
of  about  100  miles  along  the  coast  of  the  Mexican  Gulf — 
from  the  south  of  Tuxpam  to  north  of  Tampico,  prob- 
ably a  good  deal  further  south  and  north  than  the 
points  which  bound  the  area  already  prospected. 
Stretching  back  from  the  Gulf,  too,  there  are  lands 
which  yield  richly,  although,  as  yet,  their  development 
has  hardly  begun. 

Of  the  Mexican  wells  which  are  actually  producing 
in  large  quantities,  there  are  two  which  give  phenomenal 
results.  One,  belonging  to  the  Huasteca  Company, 
has  been  yielding  25,000  barrels  a  day  for  nearly 
four  years.  That  is  said  to  be  a  record ;  no  other  well, 
I  have  been  told,  has  continued  to  produce  so  large 
a  quantity  so  steadily  and  for  so  long.  The  Mexican 
Eagle  Company  have  a  well  of  even  greater  capacity. 
For  two  years  it  has  been  filling  more  than  26,000 
barrels  a  day.  It  was  opportunely  discovered,  soon 
after  the  first  fortunate  "  strike  "  of  the  Eagle  had 
unluckily  caught  fire  and  burnt  itself  out. 

Many  who  are  qualified  by  experience  to  give 
opinions,  say  that  these  oilfields  will  prove  to  be  the 
richest  the  world  has  yet  seen.  They  base  their  view 
upon  the  fact  that  vast  amounts  continue  to  be  thrown 
up  over  such  long  periods,  and  that,  instead  of  becoming 
weaker,  the  wells  actually  improve  as  time  goes  by. 
Already  after  very  few  years'  work,  the  quantity 
produced  is  close  upon  100,000  barrels  a  day,  dis- 
tributed in  these  proportions— 


196  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

Huasteca  Company      .       .  .  40,000 

Eagle  Company            .       .  .  36,000 

Mexican  Petroleum  Company  .  3,000 

East  Coast  Oil  Company     .  .  4,000 

Oilfields  of  Mexico       .        .  .  500 

Other  Companies  .        .        .  .  15,000 

At  the  rate  of  one  peso  (2s.)  a  barrel,  that  appears 
to  represent  a  large  return.  But,  when  we  consider 
that  some  £25,000,000  have  been  invested  in  these 
Mexican  oilfields,  and  that  since  1901  rather  less  than 
70,000,000  barrels  have  been  produced,  the  complexion 
of  the  matter  changes.  In  twelve  years  the  return 
to  those  who  have  invested  has  been  only  ten  per  cent — 
not  ten  per  cent,  a  year,  but  ten  per  cent,  for  the  whole 
period.  So  far  only  a  very  few  of  the  companies 
interested  have  paid  dividends,  and,  seeing  that  oil 
is  always  a  risky  investment,  the  conditions  under 
which  they  work  are  none  too  favourable.  The  pioneers 
have  to  contend  with  many  serious  obstacles.  All 
their  material  has  to  be  imported,  and  it  still  takes 
from  four  to  six  months  to  get  machinery  from  Europe 
or  the  United  States.  The  camps  are  so  situated  that 
they  must  supply,  not  only  provisions  and  stores  of 
every  kind,  but  their  own  transport  (usually  motor- 
launches)  and  their  own  postal  service.  The  com- 
panies have  to  make  roads,  to  build  railways,  to  own 
or  hire  steamships,  to  lay  pipe-lines.  To  drill  a  well 
in  the  United  States  costs  about  £1,600.  In  Mexico 
the  cost  is  three  times  as  great.  A  pump  which  can 
be  bought  for  £1,000  in  New  York,  costs  £3,000  at 
Tampico  or  Tuxpam. 

These  are  the  centres  of  the  oil  industry.  Both 
towns  are  river-ports,  several  miles  from  the  sea. 


THE   OIL   RIVALRY  MYTH  197 

Already  Tampico  has  begun  to  "  boom,"  and  if  ever 
£600,000  are  spent  upon  giving  Tuxpam  a  good  harbour, 
that  place,  which  has  at  present  only  some  12,000 
inhabitants,  scattered  among  the  seven  hills  on  which, 
after  a  famous  precedent,  it  is  built,  would  become 
an  active  competitor.  It  would  then  have  two  advan- 
tages over  Tampico.  It  is  nearer  to  the  capital,  and 
it  has  very  rich  country  behind  it.  In  the  valley 
watered  by  its  broad  river  flourish  coffee,  sugar, 
rubber,  maize  (of  which  three  crops  can  be  raised  in 
the  year),  and  vanilla.  It  has  yielded  large  quantities 
of  "  chicle,"  which  is  made  into  the  chewing-gum  that 
is  consumed  in  such  enormous  quantities  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada.  Now  the  trees  from  which  the 
"  chicle  "  exudes  are  being  cut  down,  but  in  their 
stead  are  rising  plantations  of  papaya,  from  which 
pepsin,  the  popular  remedy  for  indigestion,  is  made. 
Strange  are  the  forces  of  civilization  which  snatch  from 
the  wild  places  of  the  earth  the  sweetmeat  which  keeps 
the  jaws  of  New  York  office-boys  and  typists  in  per- 
petual movement,  and  the  drug  that  soothes  stomachs 
worn  out  by  the  nerve  strain  and  the  excesses  of  our 
feverish  modern  life. 

As  for  Tampico,  it  is,  as  I  have  said,  Mexico's  "  boom 
city."  It  has  "  boomed "  even  through  the  civil 
war,  which  seems  as  great  a  miracle  as  if  a  tree  should 
put  forth  leaf  and  blossom  in  a  season  of  frost  and  snow. 
Yet  if  a  tree  were  warmly  rooted  and  fed  below  ground 
by  a  nourishing  stream  of  fertilizer,  even  that  miracle 
might  be  seen.  So  it  is  with  Tampico.  The  stream 
that  feeds  it  is  a  torrent  of  oil.  Its  roots  are  set  deep 
in  the  development  of  the  petroleum  industry.  We 
are  entering  now  upon  the  Oil  Age.  The  world  cannot 
get  enough  of  this  valuable  fuel  which  has  lain  hid 


198  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

through  all  the  ages  until  now.  In  every  likely  region 
holes  are  being  punched  through  the  earth's  surface 
in  the  hope  to  find  it.  To-day  the  United  States 
produces  more  oil  than  any  other  country.  Russia 
comes  second.  When  the  Mexican  oilfields  are  yielding 
to  their  full  extent  they  will,  it  is  believed,  take  Russia's 
place.  Then  Tampico  will  be  a  flourishing  city,  one 
of  the  great  oil  ports  of  the  world. 

A  few  years  back  it  was  a  small  town,  unimportant, 
unheard  of.  It  did  a  small  trade  in  fruit  :  the  valley 
in  which  it  lies  is  well  watered  and  fertile.  But  it  was 
just  a  hot,  dusty,  slow-coach  of  a  place;  and  so,  for  all 
that  Mexicans  did  or  tried  to  do,  it  would  have  remained. 
British  and  American  enterprise  have  already  trans- 
formed it.  The  streets,  where  formerly  a  stranger  was 
a  curiosity,  are  bustling  and  thronged.  White  women 
and  children,  the  women  nearly  all  bare-headed, 
stroll  up  and  down  them  quite  at  home.  White  men 
in  white  clothes  (even  in  mid-winter)  pass  to  and  from 
their  offices.  English  and  German  are  heard  at  every 
turn.  Tall  office  buildings  are  dwarfing  the  squat 
houses.  A  big  hotel  is  a-building.  Land  is  going  up 
in  price.  Speculators  are  spying  it  out  and  mapping 
the  probable  directions  in  which  the  city  will  grow. 
Plans  are  being  laid  for  big  stores  to  open.  All  the 
elements  of  a  "  boom  "  are  here. 

Already  there  are  pleasant  homes  of  foreigners.  A 
colony  is  being  made  some  three  miles  out,  where  trees 
and  gardens  and  shady  verandahs  will  temper  the 
ferocity  of  the  sun.  Sometimes  the  British  and 
Americans  who  are  building  houses  here  wonder  whether 
they  will  ever  live  in  them.  Over  Tampico  broods  the 
shadow  of  a  sword.  It  was  attacked  in  December 
1913.  The  assault  then  beaten  off  is  sure  to  be  renewed. 


THE   OIL   RIVALRY  MYTH  199 

The  outlook  is  cloudy  and  threatening.  Near  by  the 
"  bandidos  "  have  been  very  busy,  and  no  "  ranchero  " 
is  safe.  While  I  was  at  Tampico  the  able  and  active 
British  Vice-Consul,  Mr.  H.  W.  Wilson,  introduced 
me  to  an  old  American  named  McCrocklin.  He  owns 
a  ranch  near  a  place  called  Micos,  between  Tampico 
and  St.  Luis  Potosi.  He  has  worked  hard  on  it  for 
many  years.  His  horses  and  cattle  and  his  plantations 
are  a  credit  to  him.  A  few  weeks  ago  a  gang  of 
"  rebels  "  had  ridden  up  to  his  house.  They  had 
demanded  £100  (1,000  pesos).  He  said  he  had  not 
so  much  money  in  his  safe,  and  he  showed  them  the 
inside  of  the  safe  to  prove  his  word.  All  he  could 
offer  them  was  between  £60  and  £70.  They  said  it 
was  not  enough.  A  rope  was  produced  and  a  noose 
tied  round  his  neck.  Old  McCrocklin  said  to  his 
manager,  an  Englishman  named  Clark  (I  talked  with 
them  both),  "  Take  witness  I  die  like  a  man."  They 
were  marched  out  to  a  tree.  The  other  end  of  the 
rope  was  thrown  over  a  branch  and  jerked  so  that 
the  old  man  could  only  touch  the  ground  with  his  toes. 
Then  he  made  a  last  appeal.  "  I  am  seventy-four,"  he 
said.  "  I  can  only  live  a  few  years  longer.  Let  me 
finish  my  life  naturally."  After  some  discussion  it 
was  agreed  that  he  should  go  free  if  he  would  agree 
to  fetch  £300  from  his  bank  in  Tampico.  Accordingly 
he  and  Clark  went  to  Tampico,  and  there  the  Consuls 
advised  them  not  to  go  back.  Mr.  Wilson  positively 
forbade  Clark  to  take  his  wife  into  the  Micos  district 
again.  Clark  himself  insisted  upon  returning  to  look 
after  his  employer's  cattle.  He  only  just  escaped 
the  same  body  of  thieves,  who  worked  off  their  dis- 
appointment by  wrecking  the  farm,  robbing  the  peons, 
and  seizing  their  women. 


200  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

That  is  an  example  of  what  would  happen  in  Tampico 
itself  if  anarchy  came.  There  are  bad  Indians  and 
Mexicans  in  large  numbers  in  and  about  the  town. 
One  night,  when  I  left  a  bridge  party,  my  host  and 
two  other  men  were  going  to  sit  up  all  night.  They 
had  heard  alarming  rumours  of  a  rising  among  the 
"  pelados."  It  was  not  their  first  vigil  of  the  kind 
either.  The  natives  have  a  lowering,  savage  look. 
That  is  partly  why  Tampico  makes  at  first  upon  the. 
visitor  a  detestable  impression.  Partly,  also,  it  is 
because  that  new  hotel  is  so  badly  needed.  Those 
which  exist  are  Mexican.  I  say  no  more.  Happily, 
through  the  kindness  of  a  "  friend  in  need,"  I  found 
comfortable  sleeping  quarters  in  the  Club.  Meals, 
even  breakfast,  have  to  be  shared  in  primitive  restaur- 
ants with  millions  of  flies.  The  place  reminded  me  of 
a  mining  camp.  Even  the  rose  bushes  of  the  Plaza 
looked  forlorn  and  out  of  keeping,  blooming  in  a  desert 
of  dirty,  unkempt  roadways,  sidewalks  littered  with 
rubbish,  empty  spaces  thick  in  dust. 

Yet  the  view  from  the  higher  part  of  the  town  is 
delightful.  You  look  across  wide  sheets  of  water, 
green  meadows,  wooded  hillsides,  all  glittering  in  the 
tropical  sunshine,  all  quivering  in  a  sheeny  haze. 
Towards  the  sea,  some  few  miles  down  the  river, 
stretch  miles  of  railway  sidings  and  quays.  On  the 
hills  there  has  broken  out  an  eruption  of  oil-tanks, 
looking  like  gigantic  mushrooms.  In  the  river  are 
many  vessels,  greedy  for  oil. 

From  the  Pearson  wells  there  are  pipe-lines 
which  carry  the  oil  both  to  Tampico  and  to  Tuxpam. 
At  the  latter  place  it  can  be  poured  into  the  holds  of 
vessels  nearly  a  mile  from  the  shore.  Three  mooring 
berths  have  been  built,  and  six  pipes  are  led  out  to 


THE   OIL   RIVALRY  MYTH  201 

them ;  through  these  the  fluid  rushes  into  the  tanks  at 
the  rate  of  1,000  barrels  an  hour.  Some  day  vessels 
will  call  here,  and  at  similar  places,  to  "oil"  just  as 
they  now  "  coal."  The  process  will  be  quicker  as  well 
as  cleaner.  Our  men-of-war  can  be  made  more  com- 
fortable for  those  who  have  to  live  in  them,  and  this 
is  important ;  for  it  is  already  become  difficult  to  induce 
bluejackets  to  renew  their  engagements.  This  Pearson 
enterprise  at  Tuxpam  is  thus  very  interesting  as  a 
"  pointer  "  towards  the  future  development  of  shipping, 
naval  and  mercantile  both. 

Much  of  the  Pearson  oil  goes  also  to  Coatzacoalcos 
(Quatzaqualcus),  another  Gulf  port.  Not  far  from 
here  is  Minititlan,  where  the  Eagle  Company  has  a 
very  large  and  well-equipped  refinery.  Another  is 
being  built  between  Tampico  and  the  sea.  For  storing 
oil  the  Company  has,  near  its  famous  Petrero  well, 
a  huge  tank  holding  two  and  a  half  million  barrels 
(about  350,000  tons).  This  at  the  time  of  my  visit 
was  being  patrolled  night  and  day  by  armed  guards. 
Between  blackmailing  rebels  and  a  Government  which 
is  screwing  up  taxation,  the  oil  companies  are  hard 
pressed.  The  import  in  the  production  of  oil  has  been 
raised  from  5^.  to  is.  6d.  a  ton,  and  the  stamp-tax  has 
been  doubled,  making  it  now  2\d.  a  barrel.  There  is 
also  a  local  tax  of  is.  a  ton  to  cover  improvements  in 
the  Tampico  river. 

Further,  the  owners  of  oil  lands,  in  their  short-sighted 
greed,  are  inclined  to  join  with  the  Federal  and  the 
State  authorities  in  crippling  the  goose  which  lays  the 
golden  eggs.  The  usual  payment  to  landowners  is  ten 
per  cent.,  but  there  is  a  decided  tendency  to  try  and 
secure  more.  If  the  Mexican  Government,  instead 
of  talking  wildly  about  buying  up  the  oilfields,  for 


202  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

which  they  would  require  a  loan  of  fifty  millions  sterling, 
would  put  petroleum  upon  the  same  footing  as  metals, 
that  would  be  welcomed  as  a  really  wise  reform.  This 
would  mean  a  certain  fixed  royalty,  part  to  go  to  the 
Government  and  part  to  the  owner.  Such  a  change 
would  benefit  the  oil  companies  and  the  Mexican 
people  both.  It  would  also  end  the  ridiculous  rumours 
which  attribute  all  Mexico's  troubles  to  concession- 
hunters. 

In  a  case  of  this  kind  the  best  plan  is  to  ask  each 
concern  what  it  believes  its  rival  has  been  doing.  In 
Mexico  the  two  chief  oil  companies  are  the  Eagle  and 
the  Waters- Pierce.  The  latter  was  once  connected 
with  Standard  Oil,  but  the  tie  which  bound  them  has 
been  severed,  and  they  have  been  for  some  time  on 
bad  terms.  So  much  for  the  Standard  Oil  myth  1 
I  inquired  of  the  Eagle  Company  whether  they  believed 
the  story  of  the  Waters-Pierce  people  being  committed 
to  the  party  of  so-called  "  reform."  I  asked  the  man- 
ager of  the  Waters-Pierce  if  he  thought  the  Pearson 
interests  had  "  supported  "  General  Huerta.  In  each 
case  the  answer  was  an  emphatic  "No." 

There  is  not  a  jot  or  tittle  of  proof  that  any  oil 
company  ever  gave  money  to  either  side.  A  Committee 
of  the  United  States  Senate  inquired  into  the  vague 
charges  murmured  about  and  reported  that  they  could 
discover  nothing  but  hearsay  evidence.  The  most 
persistent  rumour  alleges  that  Madero  received  a  large 
sum  of  money  from  the  Waters-Pierce  Company,  which 
was  trying  to  drive  Pearson's  out  of  Mexico.  I  know, 
too,  that  old  President  Diaz  said  on  his  way  to  Europe 
that  it  was  an  "  oil  revolution  "  which  had  driven  him 
out.  But  even  if  Madero  was  "  nobbled  "  in  this  way, 
I  do  not  believe  that  any  oil  company  has  supported 


THE   OIL   RIVALRY   MYTH  203 

either  side  since  then.  Nor  is  there  any  reason  why 
they  should  have  done  so.  Examine  the  Eagle  "  con- 
cession," and  what  does  it  amount  to?  It  gives  no 
monopoly,  but  grants  freedom  from  all  taxation  except 
the  stamp  tax.  Yet  the  Eagle  Company  are  paying 
at  exactly  the  same  rate  as  every  one  else.  The  con- 
cession also  gives  leave  to  exploit  Government  lands 
in  four  States  :  but  so  far  the  production  of  the  Eagle 
Company  is  obtained  entirely  from  lands  which  it 
either  leases  or  owns.  It  would  be  scarcely  worth 
while  to  finance  either  a  Government  or  a  revolution 
for  the  sake  of  a  "  concession  "  like  that. 


XXI 

THE   ISTHMUS  OF  TEHUANTEPEC 

THERE  is  one  town  in  Mexico  which  would  repay  a 
visit  from  the  advocates  of  "  Votes  for  Women."  It 
is  called  Tehuantepec  and  lies  on  the  isthmus  of  that 
name. 

Here  dwells  a  race  of  Indians  among  whom  the 
women  are,  both  in  physique  and  in  intelligence,  vastly 
superior  to  the  men.  All  the  business  is  in  the  capable 
hands  of  the  superbly-built,  handsome  matrons  of 
the  tribe.  They  will  not  allow  a  man  to  sell  anything 
in  the  market-place.  Even  the  meat-stalls  are  in 
charge  of  women,  who  carve  up  carcasses  and  slap 
the  "  prime  cuts  "  on  the  counter  with  all  the  jovial 
assurance  of  the  male  butcher.  If  you  buy  coffee  or 
bananas  off  a  Tehuana  plantation  it  is  with  a  woman 
that  you  will  treat,  and  she  will  drive  a  shrewd 
bargain  with  you. 

As  soon  as  you  come  into  the  district  you  find  the 
women  far  more  noticeable  than  the  men.  The  latter 
are  small  and  insignificant.  They  seem  to  have 
nothing  to  do  but  smoke  cigarettes.  The  women 
do  that  too,  but  they  go  about  with  an  air  of  being 
occupied.  They  walk  with  an  exquisite  pictorial 
grace,  and  always  as  if  they  were  going  somewhere  on 
important  business.  They  are  not  very  dark  Indians, 
and  their  features  are  refined  as  well  as  intelligent,  so 

204 


THE   ISTHMUS   OF  TEHUANTEPEC     205 

much  so  that  one  can  easily  imagine  such  faces  on 
European  women  of  a  high  class.  Of  no  other  Indians 
can  that  be  said. 

I  travelled  on  the  Tehuantepec  Railway  (built  by 
Lord  Cowdray's  firm  between  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Pacific)  with  several  of  very  striking  appearance. 
One  oldish  woman  with  grey  hair  and  a  resolute  jaw- 
line  might  have  passed  easily  for  a  political  hostess 
in  London,  the  sort  of  political  hostess  who  pushes  a 
weak  husband  into  the  Cabinet  by  sheer  force  of 
determination.  She  wore,  as  most  of  them  do,  a 
short  red  and  black  jacket  of  the  Zouave  type.  Her 
skirt  was  simply  a  sheet  of  red  cotton  with  a  thin  white 
line  in  it,  draped  tightly  round  her  and  kept  up  by 
having  its  end  tucked  in  at  the  waist.  Her  feet  were 
innocent  of  boots  or  shoes,  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
her  hair  was  beautifully  braided.  The  usual  mode  of 
hairdressing  is  to  carry  a  braid  all  round  the  head  so 
as  to  display  its  shape.  And  nearly  all  theTehuantepec 
women  put  flowers  in  their  hair.  At  first  the  contrast 
between  heads  so  neat,  so  elaborate  even,  and  the 
sketchy  costume  below  is  disconcerting.  It  is  rather 
as  if  a  man  should  wear  a  top  hat  and  a  bathing  suit. 

However,  in  such  heat  as  scorches  down  upon  the 
isthmus  that  combination  might  not  be  amiss.  One 
sopn  realizes  that  the  head  needs  protection  and  the 
body  as  much  freedom  as  possible.  Many  women  wear 
simply  a  loose  cotton  tunic  and  a  skirt  of  the  kind  I 
have  described,  with  a  good  deal  of  light  brown  waist 
showing  in  between  the  two.  To  this  on  Sundays 
they  add  incongruously  a  very  large  frilled  and 
"  gauffered  "  linen  and  lace  cap,  something  like  the 
caps  which  Dutch  women  wear  in  the  islands  of  the 


206  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

Zuyder  Zee,  only  more  decorative,  and  capable  of 
being  worn  in  a  dozen  different  ways. 

In  the  pillared  market  hall,  open  at  the  sides,  they 
sit  and  chatter  gaily  in  sweet-toned  voices  all  day 
long.  Their  wares,  mostly  fruit  or  vegetables  or  grains, 
are  spread  out  before  them  in  painted  bowls.  Around 
them  play  their  naked  children,  all  mixed  up  with 
dogs  and  pigs.  I  was  astonished  at  first  to  see  children 
of  between  two  and  three  years  old  being  "  nursed," 
but  this  is  quite  usual  Sometimes  the  little  creatures 
are  suckled  till  they  are  four  years  old.  By  that  time 
they  have  learned  to  smoke,  and  they  say  down  here 
it  is  not  uncommon  for  a  child  to  leave  its  mother's 
breast  and  immediately  light  an  "  after-dinner  "  cigar  ! 
I  cannot  say  that  I  ever  saw  this  myself. 

Like  certain  other -tribes  of  Indians,  these  people 
keep  themselves  very  clean.  They  are  as  particular 
about  their  daily  bath  as  a  New  Yorker.  One  evening 
I  saw  numbers  of  them  in  the  river,  rolling  over  and 
over  in  their  enjoyment  of  the  cool  water.  It  had 
been  a  sweltering  day  and  I  envied  them.  Although 
the  sun  had  dropped  behind  the  mountains,  leaving 
them  in  deep  purply-grey  shadow,  the  air  was  still 
hot.  Any  exertion  inade  one  instantly  sticky.  Yet 
here  the  heat  is  dry  and  therefore  more  supportable 
than  that  of  the  Atlantic  side  of  the  isthmus,  where 
heavy  rains  produce  a  tropical  jungle. 

At  first,  when  the  train  plunges  into  this,  the  green- 
ness and  shadiness  of  it  are  refreshing.  The  luxuriance 
of  the  growth  pleases  the  eye.  The  flash  and  squawk 
of  parrakeets ;  the  flutter  of  blue  butterflies  nine  inches 
across;  the  vivid  blossoms,  pink  and  crimson  and 
scarlet,  mauve  and  purple  and  blue;  the  trails  of 


THE   ISTHMUS   OF  TEHUANTEPEC     207 

creeper  which  hang  down  and  the  muffling  giant 
convolvulus  which  climbs  up  to  smother  all  it  can, 
are  all  new  and  attractive.  But  gradually  Nature  in 
this  prolific  mood  repels  one.  Sinister  suggestions  of 
danger  and  death  creep  into  the  mind. 

At  Salina  Cruz,  the  port  which  Lord  Cowdray 
created  on  the  Pacific,  I  felt  the  same  distrust.  The 
ocean  was  deliciously  blue,  reflecting  a  cloudless  sky. 
The  waves  broke  on  a  clean,  sandy  beach  with  a  most 
inviting  translucence.  But  a  voice  in  my  ears  said, 
"  Sharks,"  and  when  I  heard  of  hurricanes  from  the 
north  which  blow  for  a  month  at  a  time,  when  I  was 
told  casually  that  earthquakes  happen  "  on  an  average 
once  a  week,"  when  I  felt  the  burning  heat  of  the 
December  sun,  I  thanked  Heaven  for  our  grey  English 
seas  and  skies.  "  In  medio  tutissimus  ibis  "  is  truer 
of  climates  than  of  anything  else. 

One  of  the  "  sights  "  of  Salina  Cruz  is  the  pelicans 
fishing  in  the  harbour.  They  flop  on  to  the  water 
with  ungainly  spread  of  their  great  wings,  but  their 
huge  beaks  generally  pierce  the  fish  they  have  aimed 
at.  Often  seagulls  hover  round  them,  trying  to  steal 
their  prey.  They  make  a  dart  for  the  fish  as  soon  as 
the  pelican  brings  it  up.  He  may  have  to  keep  it 
under  water  for  a  long  time  to  escape  their  thieving 
grasp.  I  shall  always  remember  Salina  Cruz  by 
those  pelicans  and  by  the  scent  of  an  armful  of  tuberoses 
which  a  woman  brought  into  the  train  at  dusk.  That 
strong,  heady  perfume  seemed  to  symbolize  the  master- 
ful women  of  Tehuantepec.  It  brings  to  memory 
their  noble  brows,  their  deep-set  eyes,  their  perfect 
contours  unconfined  by  corsets,  their  swaying,  rhyth- 
mical step. 


208  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

I  shall  remember,  too,  a  "  book-agent  "  I  met  there, 
an  American  of  course.  He  was  selling  a  book  on 
the  steam-engine,  and  he  surprised  me  by  saying  that 
the  native  rail  way- workers  were  buying  it  "  like  hot 
cakes."  The  price  of  it  was  ten  pesos,  a  sovereign. 
He  had  sold  so  many  that  he  had  to  telegraph  for  a 
fresh  supply  to  be  sent.  "  Then  they  are  really 
anxious  to  learn,  these  Indians?  "  I  asked  him. 
"  Some  of  them  are,"  he  said,  "  and  the  rest  want 
the  book  so  as  not  to  be  out  of  the  hunt."  He  knew 
the  Mexican  Indian  pretty  well,  I  fancy,  for  he  had 
made  arrangements  to  have  the  payment  for  the  book 
deducted  from  their  wages.  Without  that  precaution 
he  might  in  many  cases  have  whistled  for  his  money. 
The  railway  managers  know  them  too.  All  who 
work  for  the  railway  are  paid  what  is  due  to  them 
every  night,  so  that  they  may  not  be  tempted  by 
receiving  a  week's  money  in  one  sum,  for  them  a 
large  sum,  to  gamble  or  drink  it  away. 

The  Tehuana  men  can  work  well,  if  they  are  well 
handled.  Ten  miles  from  Salina  Cruz  on  the  journey 
from  Puerto  Mexico  (also  known  as  Coatzacoalcos), 
the  Atlantic  terminus  of  the  line,  our  engine  broke 
an  axle.  A  break-down  gang  was  summoned  and 
under  the  guidance  of  two  very  capable  Americans 
they  did  a  very  heavy  piece  of  work  cleverly  and 
quickly.  I  call  them  Tehuanas,  but  in  fact  few  of 
the  males  in  this  part  are  of  true  Tehuana  stock. 
That  is  the  explanation  of  the  difference  between 
them  and  the  women.  The  Tehuana  men  were  nearly 
all  killed  off  in  the  guerrilla  warfare  which  they  kept 
up  for  many  years  against  the  Government.  They 
were  a  cruel  race,  given  to  hideous  barbarities.  When 


THE   ISTHMUS   OF  TEHUANTEPEC     209 

they  captured  the  brother  of  Porfirio  Diaz  they  cut 
off  the  soles  of  his  feet  and  forced  him  to  walk  through 
cactus.  It  were  hard  to  imagine  a  more  devilish 
torture. 

Yet  the  cruelty  was  not  all  on  their  part.  Even 
now  appalling  pains  are  inflicted — in  the  name  of 
justice.  A  complaint  was  made  recently  that  some 
rolls  of  wire-netting  had  been  stolen,  and  a  certain  man 
was  named  as  having  been  probably  concerned  with 
others  in  stealing  it.  In  order  to  induce  him  to  confess 
and  betray  his  fellow-thieves  he  was  first  put  against 
a  wall  and  threatened  with  shooting ;  then  a  rope  was 
tied  round  the  most  tender  part  of  his  body.  And, 
the  other  end  being  thrown  over  the  branch  of  a  tree, 
he  was  hauled  up,  suffering  agony  of  which  the  very 
thought  sickens  one.  The  man  who  lodged  the 
complaint  was  horrified.  He  was  a  Mexican,  but  he 
had  been  at  school  and  college  in  the  United  States. 

In  the  forests  of  the  Isthmus  there  is,  as  in  all  the 
hot  country  States  of  Mexico,  an  inexhaustible  wealth 
of  timber,  especially  of  the  finer  woods,  mahogany, 
rosewood,  and  others  used  for  furniture  and  dye- 
making.  In  one  lumber  property,  not  far  from  the 
railroad,  cutting  could  go  on  at  the  rate  of  100,000  feet 
a  day  for  sixty  years.  The  Pan-American  line  which 
runs  from  Gamboa  through  the  State  of  Chiapas  to 
the  Guatemalan  frontier  taps  a  rich  forest  region,  and 
also  a  country  where  banana  and  pineapple  planta- 
tions are  yielding  marvellous  crops.  North  of  this 
line  there  is  an  immense  territory  waiting  to  be  opened 
up.  Oil  is  said  to  be  here  as  well  as  every  tropical 
product.  As  yet  there  are  no  railways  between  the 
Tehuantepec  line  and  the  State  of  Yucatan. 


210  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

The  Yucatecans  have  grown  rich  of  late  by  growing 
henequen  or  sisal  hemp,  a  plant  of  the  cactus  tribe 
which  is  used  for  the  manufacture  of  ships'  cables 
and  "  binder  twine/'  that  is,  the  twine  with  which 
the  harvesting  machines  bind  the  sheaves  as  they  are 
reaped.  Grown  on  a  large  scale,  this  sisal  grass  can 
be  turned  into  the  greeny-yellow  thread  which  the 
rope  and  twine  makers  need  at  a  cost  of  145.  per 
hundred  kilograms.  The  selling  price  of  that  quantity 
is  over  505.  The  number  of  bales  exported  yearly 
has  risen  from  97,000  (worth  £175,000)  in  1880  to 
750,000,  worth  two  and  a  half  million  pounds.  A 
more  ingenious  method  of  pulping  the  hemp  might 
result  in  the  by-production  of  alcohol  and  paper. 
But  the  Yucatecans  are  not  famous  for  energy  or 
enterprise — except  in  getting  the  most  work  out  of 
the  unfortunate  Maya  Indians,  whom  they  have 
enslaved,  at  the  smallest  possible  cost. 

Another  railway  which  branches  off  the  Tehuantepec 
line  is  the  Vera  Cruz  and  Isthmus.  This  runs  through 
a  land  of  moist,  enervating  heat  where  rolling  meadows 
of  vast  extent  alternate  with  stretches  of  jungle. 
Here  numbers  of  Americans  had  settled,  in  spite  of 
the  climate,  to  grow  sugar-cane  and  bananas.  Many 
of  these  settlers  have  fled,  terrified  by  stories  of  murder 
and  outrage.  Only  six  miles  from  the  Isthmus 
railway  a  farmer  named  Wood  was  found  tied  up  to  a 
tree,  his  hands  above  his  head  and  his  body  slit  open. 
Another  American  named  Meyer,  farming  near  the 
Pan-American  line,  was  also  killed,  his  hands  being 
first  cut  off.  As  many  as  a  hundred  American  farmers 
on  the  Isthmus  have  abandoned  their  holdings,  and 
gone  back  penniless  to  the  United  States.  Yet  there 


THE   ISTHMUS   OF  TEHUANTEPEC     211 

has  been  no  serious  revolutionary  trouble  in  this 
district .  Such  crimes  are  committed  by  persons  who 
have  got  out  of  hand  by  reason  of  the  weakening  of 
authority  and  the  lawless  spirit  which  is  rampant 
again  after  being  prisoned  for  thirty  years. 


XXII 

"  MEXICAN   RAILS  " 

MEXICO  owes  her  railways,  as  she  owes  almost 
everything  except  her  magnificent  climate  and  rich 
soil,  to  foreign  enterprise.  Had  she  been  left  to  her- 
self, the  riches  would  not  have  been  drawn  from  the 
soil,  railways  would  not  have  been  required.  Thanks 
to  British  and  American  capital,  she  has  already  a 
system  which  makes  communication  easy  between  all 
principal  points,  and  as  soon  as  order  triumphs  over 
the  Mexicans'  inborn  preference  for  turmoil,  foreign 
companies  are  ready  to  extend  it.  Regions  rich  in 
oil,  in  minerals,  in  timber,  in  tropical  products,  will 
be  opened  up.  The  wealth  of  the  country  will  in- 
crease. Its  resources  will  begin  to  be  worked  system- 
atically, instead  of  being  merely  picked  at,  as  they 
have  been  up  to  now. 

I  have  been  warned  sometimes  against  believing 
that  Mexico  is  a  rich  country.  One  man  (brother  to  a 
prominent  Scottish  M.P.),  who  has  lived  there  for  nine- 
teen years,  assured  me  that  it  only  seemed  to  be  rich 
"  because  2  per  cent,  of  the  population  were  living  on 
the  other  98  per  cent.,"  and  because  the  latter  were 
in  a  state  resembling  slavery.  "  If  they  ever  got  their 
fair  share,"  he  said,  "  that  would  scarcely  be  enough 
to  go  round."  But  that,  I  think,  was  a  view  coloured 
by  indignation  against  the  few  who  own  huge  estates 
and  by  sympathy  for  the  many  who — 

212 


'MEXICAN   RAILS'  218 

"  tread  life's  stage 
With  weary  feet  and  scantest  wage, 
And  ne'er  a  leaf  for  laurel." 

As  an  antidote  to  this,  reflect  that  Mexico  can  bring 
forth  every  kind  of  crop,  every  kind  of  fruit.  Think 
of  her  immense  areas  suitable  for  cattle-raising,  and 
of  further  vast  spaces  which  only  await  irrigation  to 
become  fertile.  Consider  that  her  gold  and  silver  and 
copper  production  could  probably  be  doubled,  and 
that  her  oilfields  have  only  been  exploited  for  a  few 
years.  Only  let  the  Big  Stick  of  firm  government 
be  used  energetically,  only  let  the  country  become 
safe  again  to  live  in,  and  fortune  will  return  with  both 
hands  full.  Then  will  begin  a  new  period  of  railway 
development.  The  existing  lines  will  recover  their 
prosperity.  Many  new  ones  will  be  laid. 

Travelling  by  rail  in  Mexico  may  be  a  perpetual 
entertainment  or  it  may  be  torture.  It  must  be  torture 
to  people  who  dislike  (i)  noise,  (2)  tobacco  smoke, 
(3)  dust,  (4)  heat,  (5)  the  company  of  people  who  do 
not  belong  to  their  own  particular  class  and  caste. 
If  you  are  one  of  those  who  only  consent  to  travel 
by  train  on  condition  of  being  allowed  to  shut  yourself 
up  by  yourself  in  a  first-class  English  compartment 
or  in  a  Pullman  "  drawing-room/'  then  you  had  better 
keep  away  from  Mexico,  or  if  you  insist  on  going  there, 
only  take  trains  which  carry  Pullman  coaches  along 
with  them. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  human  comedy  delights 
you,  if  you  can  cheerfully  bear  a  little  discomfort  for 
the  sake  of  varied  and  picturesque  experiences,  come 
with  me  and  we  will  take  a  trip,  not  in  a  fast  train 
upon  one  of  the  great  highways  (where  we  should 
travel  by  Pullman),  but  over  a  line  where  stoppages 


214  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

are  frequent  and  local  passenger  traffic  heavy,  where 
we  can  see  all  classes  of  travelling  Mexicans,  from  the 
patriarchal  "  hacendado,"  or  landowner,  down  to  the 
"  peons  "  who  have  scraped  together  just  enough  to 
enjoy  what  is,  next  to  getting  drunk,  their  favourite 
diversion,  a  ride  in  the  "  Ferrocarril." 

To-day  there  is  a  "  fiesta  "  at  a  town  some  thirty 
miles  away.  A  famous  relic  is  to  be  exposed.  There 
will  be  a  fair,  with  gambling  booths.  Vile  liquor  will 
be  sold  cheaply.  The  church  will  be  suffocating  at 
mass  time,  and  afterwards  the  day  will  be  one  long 
carouse.  That  is  why,  half-an-hour  before  the  train  is 
due  to  start,  the  ticket  office  is  a  seething,  sweltering 
jam  of  men  and  women,  all  chattering,  all  pushing,  all 
frantically  afraid  of  being  left  behind. 

This  is  a  common  scene  at  Mexican  railway  stations. 
We  ought  to  have  taken  our  tickets  beforehand. 
Never  mind;  we  can  pay  in  the  train  if  it  comes  to 
the  worst.  Meanwhile  there  is  plenty  to  look  at. 
As  the  Indians  come  out  with  their  tickets,  counting 
their  change  several  times  over  with  puzzled  lines 
across  their  brown  foreheads,  you  can  see  that  they 
are  of  many  types.  There  is  a  slant-eyed  Mongol, 
there  a  high-cheek-boned  North  American,  there  an 
Aztec  face.  You  see,  too,  that  whenever  their  costume 
exceeds  bare  coverings  (which  is  not  often)  their  taste 
runs  to  finery.  They  are  of  all  ages.  Old  people  like 
that  couple  over  there  :  grandfather  wears  a  huge  grey 
sugarloaf  hat  and  big  iron-rimmed  spectacles ;  granny 
holds  a  glistening  gaily  coloured  shield  over  her  bare 
head  to  keep  off  the  sun.  Men  in  the  prime  of  life 
with  silver  buttons  and  tassels  on  their  tight  breeches 
of  Jodhpur  cut.  Buxom  women,  with  brown  babies 
slung  on  their  backs  or  placidly  ta.king  breakfast  as 


'MEXICAN   RAILS'  215 

Nature  meant  them  to.  Girls,  slim  or  plump,  with 
large,  liquid  eyes  and  the  supple,  swimming  carriage 
of  bodies  which  have  never  known  constraint.  Children 
in  swarms,  solemn  little  morsels,  with  infinitely  attrac- 
tive features  and  grubby,  warm  palms  that  will  soon 
rest  in  yours  confidingly,  if  you  take  the  trouble  to 
make  friends. 

Pattering  and  clattering  and  chattering,  the  brown 
folk  pack  themselves  into  the  second-class  (there  are 
only  two  classes) — long,  airy  coaches  with  seats  down 
each  side  and  a  bench,  on  which  passengers  sit 
back  to  back,  in  the  middle.  The  first-class  are  like 
unto  them  except  that  they  have  a  gangway  down  the 
middle  with  double  seats  on  either  side  of  it,  covered 
either  with  leather  or  with  rush-work  for  the  sake  of 
coolness,  and  with  movable  backs.  If  the  train  were 
not  full  we  could  secure  a  section,  that  is,  two  seats 
facing  each  other,  to  ourselves,  but  this  is  impossible 
to-day.  The  first  thing  that  we  notice  as  we  climb 
into  the  already  crowded  carriage  is  the  strong  smell 
of  soap.  To  that  you  must  grow  accustomed  in  Mexico. 
Men  and  women  there  both  like  strong  scents.  The 
ladies  use  a  powder  which  stands  out  on  their  faces 
like  frozen  snow  on  the  side  of  a  house  and  which 
wafts  a  penetrating  perfume.  I  have  heard  an  Ameri- 
can woman  say  that,  after  being  kissed  by  any  of  her 
Mexican  friends,  she  is  always  in  fear  of  lead  poisoning  ! 

Recovering  from  this  we  have  our  attention  attracted 
by  the  oddity  of  the  luggage  they  have  with  them. 
They  carry  innumerable  packages,  which  look  as  if 
they  were  on  the  point  of  coming  undone.  One  woman 
has  a  pailful  of  clothes,  another  carries,  in  addition 
to  her  parcels,  a  birdcage  filled  with  boots,  a  string 
of  pomegranates,  and  a  large  earthenware  jar.  The 


216  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

pomegranates  have  been  acquired  on  the  journey. 
The  Mexican  when  he  travels  must  be  for  ever  buying. 
He  will  buy  fruit,  flowers,  sweetmeats  of  positively 
lethal  appearance,  toys,  walking-sticks,  sugar-cane, 
opals,  tortoises,  drinks  of  pulque,  cheeses,  crabs,  fish 
11  just  out  of  the  sea."  At  a  little  place  called  Boca 
del  Rio,  in  the  State  of  Vera  Cruz,  a  man  tried  to  sell 
me  a  small  live  pig  !  That  reminded  me  of  a  fellow- 
traveller  I  once  had  in  the  Caucasus,  who  bought  at 
a  station  near  Tiflis  a  live  lamb. 

Selling  at  the  Mexican  railway  stations  is  a  lucra- 
tive occupation  for  thousands  of  women  and  girls. 
"  Tamales,  tamalitos,"  is  a  cry  constantly  heard;  if 
you  are  bold  you  will  certainly  buy,  once  at  any  rate, 
some  of  these  "  savoury  messes  "  of  meat  and  Indian 
corn  and  hot  seasoning  of  green  or  red  peppers,  which 
are  handed  up  to  the  window  in  a  maize-stalk  wrapping. 
It  is  never  safe  to  walk  along  under  the  windows  of 
a  train,  since  spitting  is  a  national  habit.  At  stations 
where  eatables  are  sold  it  is  especially  undesirable. 
You  are  more  than  likely  to  be  hit  by  a  bone  or  a 
tamale  wrapper  cast  out  by  some  careless  diner. 
The  dogs  know  this ;  there  are  always  troops  of  skinny, 
furtive  curs  foraging  about  in  the  dust  in  hope  of  a 
meal. 

Even  between  the  stations  the  childlike  desire  of 
the  passengers  to  be  spending  their  money  is  catered 
for.  The  "  newsagent  "  in  the  train  sells  not  only 
magazines  and  books,  but  oranges,  sweets,  bananas, 
bottled  beer  and  sweet  pink  lemonade.  I  have 
actually  seen  men  buy  pear  drops  at  eight  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  Should  there  be  nothing  new  to  buy, 
the  passengers  look  out  for  anything  they  can  snap 
up  along  the  line.  I  remember  a  stop  between  stations 


'MEXICAN  RAILS'  21T 

in  Sonora  being  enlivened  by  a  raid  upon  a  quince 
orchard.  We  all  got  over  a  wire  and  picked  as  many 
as  we  wanted.  Some  adventurers  went  further  afield 
and  found  peaches,  but  they  were  like  cobble-stones. 
I  wonder  if  the  owner  of  the  quinces  ever  knew. 

Mexican  trains  start  and  stop  very  much  less  vio- 
lently than  trains  in  the  United  States  and  Canada. 
The  engine-drivers  of  these  latter  countries  show  their 
independent  spirit  and  their  contempt  for  the  passengers 
by  a  series  of  hideous  jolts  and  jerks  at  every  halt 
and  every  renewal  of  the  journey.  Another  difference 
which  men  appreciate  is  that  tobacco  may  be  smoked 
in  the  carriages  and  not  only  in  a  lavatory  along  with 
glistening  tin  basins.  Many  American  trains  do  not 
provide  accommodation  for  smokers  at  all,  and  very 
often  they  sternly  refuse  to  let  you  drink  a  glass  of 
beer  or  wine  with  your  meal  in  the  dining-car  or  in 
railway  restaurants.  Mexicans  would  not  submit  to 
any  such  curtailment  of  personal  liberty.  In  our  train 
there  is  no  dining-car,  but  we  have  twenty  minutes 
allowed  us  to  take  our  lunch  at  a  "  meal  station." 
In  the  restaurant  all  is  ready.  We  are  served  with 
excellent  soup,  omelettes,  dishes  of  stewed  mutton 
and  grilled  steak,  sweet  potatoes  and  salad,  a  sugary 
cake,  oranges,  and  coffee,  all  for  two  shillings.  The 
Indians  eat  at  little  tables  set  close  alongside  the  train 
for  shade — and  a  fine  subject  this  would  make  for  a 
painter  who  delighted  in  colour  and  strong  sunlight. 

Meanwhile  our  engine  is  coaling  by  means  of  a 
basket,  which  one  man  fills  and  then  upsets  into  the 
tender,  rather  a  lengthy  process,  which  stretches  our 
twenty  minutes  to  forty.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
place  are,  no  doubt,  grateful.  The  daily  passing  of 
the  train  is  their  one  excitement.  They  stand  or 


218  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

lean  against  walls,  perfectly  still,  and  stare,  such  of 
them  as  have  nothing  to  sell,  without  any  expression 
whatever.  You  wonder  what  they  are  thinking  about  ? 
It  is  highly  improbable  that  they  are  thinking  at  all. 

As  the  day  wears  on  the  dust  becomes  a  burden  hard 
to  bear.  Outside  the  landscape  sizzles  in  the  heat. 
All  the  windows  are  open.  The  carriage  is  filled 
with  a  thick  golden  haze.  Dust  seems  to  be  regarded 
by  these  people  as  a  normal  element  to  breathe  in.  I 
envy  the  old  women  who  cover  themselves  up  with 
their  black  veils.  I  feel  particularly  sorry  for  the 
nurse,  with  long  tails  of  glistening  hair  down  her  back 
and  a  chequered  "  rebozo,"  or  shawl,  which  makes 
her  look  like  Highland  Mary.  To  attend  to  a  squally 
baby  under  such  conditions  must  be  torture. 

Yet  when  sunset  streaks  the  sky  with  gold  and 
crimson  one  forgets  every  discomfort.  After  the 
day's  heat  comes  a  delicious  coolness.  We  buy  a 
cake  each  of  excellent  bread  and  stay  our  hunger.  The 
desire  for  tea  is  cheated  by  oranges  bursting  with 
sweet  juice.  A  gentle  wind  fans  us.  The  sticky 
feeling  which  has  oppressed  us  all  afternoon  ceases. 
I  shall  never  forget  coming  suddenly  to  the  sea  at  the 
end  of  such  a  day.  The  sound  of  the  waves  was 
sweetest  music.  The  measureless  blue  and  the  palms 
waving  on  the  beach  filled  my  soul  with  content. 
Then  the  blue  velvet  cloak  of  night  was  drawn  around 
us,  and  the  fireflies  flecked  it  with  gold  spangles,  and 
the  moon  came  up,  a  sickle  of  bright  glory.  Those  are 
the  hours  which  touch  travel  upon  Mexico's  16,000 
miles  of  railway  with  an  ineffable,  unforgettable  joy. 

Of  these  16,000  miles  the  National  Railways  own 
about  half.  The  nationalization  was  planned  and 
very  skilfully  put  through  by  Sefior  Limantour,  the 


'MEXICAN  RAILS'  219 

French  Finance  Minister,  who  was  to  have  been 
Don  Porfirio's  successor.  Of  the  £46,000,000  of  stock 
the  Mexican  Government  owns  just  over  half,  50*3 
to  be  exact,  against  497  in  private  hands.  That  gives 
the  Government  control  of  voting  power;  it  also 
guarantees  the  Four  per  Cent.  General  Mortgage 
Bonds.  But  it  does  not  work  the  National  Railways 
as  a  branch  of  Government.  The  foreign  bankers 
who  provided  the  money  for  Senor  Limantour's  opera- 
tion made  it  a  condition  that  this  should  not  be 
attempted.  They  knew  the  Mexican  character  with 
its  ability  "  to  resist  everything  except  temptation," 
its  unfitness  to  manage  anything  upon  progressive 
lines.  Consequently  the  direction  remained  in  Ameri- 
can hands.  At  first  the  train-crews  were  also  American. 
That  has  now  been  changed.  Engine-drivers,  firemen, 
conductors,  auditors  (ticket  examiners)  and  brakemen 
are,  on  the  National  lines,  almost  all  Mexican,  and 
they  have  been  drilled  into  doing  their  work  pretty 
well.  The  American  railwaymen  hastened  their  own 
dismissal.  It  is  commonly  said  that  many  conductors 
and  auditors  made  fortunes  by  dishonest  dealing. 
Between  Guanajuato  and  the  capital  no  regular 
travellers  used  tickets.  They  tipped  the  conductors 
instead  ! 

There  is  no  dishonesty  now,  although  the  Mexicans 
are  paid  less  than  the  Americans  used  to  be.  They 
are  too  carefully  watched.  At  first  the  native  servants 
of  the  road  received  from  one  to  three  shillings  a  day. 
Now  their  pay  ranges  from  two  to  ten  and  even  twelve 
shillings.  Railway  employment  has  largely  helped  to 
create  that  middle  class  which  is  the  real  disturber 
in  Mexico. 

The  lines  which  were  merged  into  the  Nationa, 


220  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

Railways  were :  (a)  the  old  National,  (b)  the  old 
Mexican  Central,  (c)  the  Mexican  International. 
Afterwards  the  Pan-American  and  the  Vera  Cruz-to- 
Isthmus  Companies  were  bought  out,  while  the  Inter- 
oceanic  line  was  leased.  The  important  systems  out- 
side the  National  are — 

1.  The  Mexican  Railway   built  with  British  capital 
in  1873  and  known  for  many  years  as  "  The  Queen's 
Own";  this  runs  from  the  capital  to  Vera  Cruz,  a 
journey  of  about  eleven  hours,  which  can  be  made 
comfortably  in  a  sleeping-car  at  night,  but  which  it  is 
well  worth  making  at  least  once  in  the  daytime  for 
the  sake  of  the  wonderful  views  when  the  line  drops 
from  the  Tierra  Fria  to  the  Tierra  Templada,  and 
again  from  this  semi-tropical  zone  to  the  "  hot  land  " 
of  the  Gulf  Coast  (see  Chapter  XV). 

2.  The  Southern  Pacific  of  Mexico,  closely  connected 
with  the  United  States  Southern  Pacific.     This  begins 
at  Nogales,  on  the  frontier  of  Sonora,  runs  through 
Hermosillo   to  Guaymas  (264  miles),  and  thence  to 
Tepic  (667  miles).     From  Tepic  it  is  to  be  continued 
to  Orendain,  whence  it  will  run  over  the  National  line 
to  Guadalajara.     Possibly  it  may  be  extended  in  time 
to  Mexico  City,  by  way  of  Lake  Chapala. 

3.  The  Mexican  North- Western,  one  of  the  F.  S. 
Pearson   interests    (not   to   be   confused   with   Lord 
Cowdray's   firm),   starts   from   El   Paso    (Texas),   or, 
rather,   from  Juarez,   which  is  just   across  the   Rio 
Grande,  and  runs  as  far  as  the  city  of  Chihuahua,  with 
ramifications  into  mining  and  timber  districts.     This 
company,  with  its  472  miles  of  track,  has  suffered 
proportionately  more  than  any  other  from  the  revo- 
lutions of  the  last  three  years  (see  Chapter  III). 

4.  The  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec  Railway,  built  by 


1  MEXICAN   RAILS*  221 

Lord  Cowdray  for  the  Mexican  Government  and  leased 
to  him  for  operation  upon  a  profit-sharing  basis.  At 
each  end  a  new  port  has  been  created.  Salina  Cruz 
on  the  Pacific  is  a  marvel  of  perfectly-equipped  basins, 
quays,  and  warehouses  where  a  few  years  ago  was  only 
foam-flecked  sand.  At  Coatzacoalcos,  on  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  there  is  a  river,  forming  a  natural  harbour; 
here  also  machinery  has  been  installed  which  shifts 
cargo  with  the  utmost  speed.  This  railway  owns 
more  rolling  stock  to  the  mile  than  any  other.  Over 
its  184  miles  run  1,900  cars.  Its  passenger  traffic  is 
small,  but  a  large  trade  in  all  kinds  of  merchandise  is 
carried  on  by  means  of  it  between  Europe,  the  Atlantic 
seaboard,  the  Pacific  coast  of  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  Honolulu,  Hawaii,  and  the  Far  East.  Enor- 
mous quantities  of  sugar  are  brought  from  Hawaii, 
and  Salina  Cruz  holds  the  record  for  rapidity  in  un- 
loading this  cargo,  7,500  tons,  in  nineteen  hours. 
Speed  is,  of  course,  more  necessary  here  than  in  most 
ports.  No  time  must  be  lost  in  transhipment.  In 
eleven  days,  not  long  ago,  12,500  tons  of  sugar  were 
unloaded  from  a  ship,  and  8,500  tons  of  general 
merchandise  were  put  into  her.  A  German  skipper 
at  Coatzacoalcos  told  me  they  unloaded  there  more 
quickly  than  at  Havre.  Even  when  the  Panama 
Canal  is  opened  the  Tehuantepec  route  will  still  be 
used ;  it  will  in  all  probability  be  used  more  than  it  is 
now.  The  trade  between  east  and  west  will  increase, 
and  this  means  of  dispatch  will  have  advantages  over 
Panama  in  that  the  Isthmus  is  more  conveniently 
placed  than  the  Canal  for  ocean  traffic,  and  that  the 
charges  across  the  former  are  not  so  high  as  the  Canal 
tolls  will  be  (see  also  Chapter  XXI). 

The  most  interesting  of  the  new  railways  already 


222  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

planned  and  authorized  are  the  coast  lines  which  will 
run  from  Tampico  north  to  Matamoros  and  south  to 
Tuxpam  and  Vera  Cruz.  The  interest  of  these  is 
heightened  by  the  fact  that  they  pass  through  the 
oil  regions,  which  are  going  to  hold  the  world's  attention 
for  a  great  many  years  to  come.  There  will  also  be  a 
short  line  from  Tampico  to  Mexico  City,  and  possibly 
one  from  Tuxpam  as  well.  A  still  shorter  line,  but 
one  with  excellent  prospects,  is  the  Tampico-Panuco, 
which  will  connect  up  a  promising  oil  district  with 
the  oil  capital.  These,  with  the  exception  of  the  last 
mentioned,  will  be  built  by  the  National  Lines.  British 
capital  is  to  construct  a  railway  starting  from  Santa 
Lucrecia  (where  the  Vera  Cruz  and  Isthmus  joins  the 
Tehuantepec  Line),  running  through  the  State  of 
Tabasco  and  Campeche,  tapping  some  of  the  richest 
tropical  country  in  the  world,  and  connecting  up  with 
the  railway  system  of  Yucatan.  From  the  Pacific 
harbour  of  Acapulco  to  Sihuatanejo  further  west 
another  line  is  planned,  and  the  idea  is  to  connect  this 
with  Balsas,  the  terminus  of  a  line  which  runs  due 
south  from  Mexico  City  through  that  most  delightful 
of  pleasure  towns,  Cuernavaca. 

The  standard  of  railway  management  in  Mexico  is 
high.  With  civil  war  going  on,  one  cannot  expect 
either  the  same  comfort  or  the  same  punctuality  as 
one  would  demand  in  times  of  peace.  But  considering 
that  the  National  Lines  have  suffered  actual  damage 
to  the  value  of  £2,500,000,  and  that  their  services  have 
constantly  to  be  suspended  because  the  track  has  been 
dynamited  or  bridges  burned  away,  every  one  con- 
nected with  them,  from  Mr.  E.  N.  Brown  and  Mr. 
Hudson  (president  and  vice-president)  downwards, 
deserves  credit  for  the  plucky  fight  that  has  been 


4  MEXICAN   RAILS'  228 

made  to  give  any  service  at  all.  Added  to  other 
difficulties  has  been  that  of  keeping  the  engines  supplied 
with  fuel.  The  Mexican  railways  use  oil  instead  of 
coal,  which  makes  travelling  infinitely  more  pleasant. 
There  is  no  dirt  from  the  locomotive,  no  grits  to 
torture  the  eyes,  no  foul  smoke,  no  smell.  Oil  is 
cheaper,  too,  which  perhaps  helps  to  account  for  the 
lowness  of  fares.  First-class  works  out  at  i^d.  a  mile, 
second-class  at  \d.  The  bulk  of  the  second-class 
passengers  are  peons,  who  are  as  fond  of  travelling 
by  train  as  the  natives  of  India.  They  will  often  take 
their  whole  family  quite  a  long  distance  and  then  walk 
back.  Religious  fiestas  give  them  plenty  of  excuses 
for  excursions.  The  railways  make  £30,000  a  year 
out  of  the  December  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  Our 
Lady  of  Guadalupe,  near  the  capital. 

The  success  of  the  Mexican  National  Railways  is 
not  an  argument  in  favour  of  nationalization,  for  they 
are  worked  by  a  private  company  still.  But  it  is 
worth  while  noting  that  the  Mexican  Railway  Laws 
are  considered  by  experts  to  be  "  almost  perfect." 
Sefior  Limantour  is  not  reputed  to  have  been  a  politician 
of  the  highest  wisdom,  but  he  certainly  had  a  con- 
ception of  government  as  a  science.  He  had  a  com- 
plete study  made  of  the  railway  legislation  of  various 
countries  before  deciding  what  to  do.  In  1900  the 
Mexican  Congress  passed  the  law  which  was  the  result 
of  such  study,  and  this  has  served  usefully  ever  since. 
The  Railway  Commission  appointed  as  adviser  to  the 
Ministry  of  Communications  works  in  perfect  harmony 
with  the  managers.  The  latter  cannot  get  quite  all 
they  want,  but  they  admit  that  the  Commissioners 
are  always  reasonable.  Nine  in  number,  they  are 
appointed  in  this  way  :  five  by  the  Government, 


224  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

two  by  the  railways,  one  by  the  Boards  of  Trade 
(Chambers  of  Commerce),  and  one  by  the  agricultural 
societies.  Thus  all  interests  are  considered,  and  when 
the  Mexicans  cease  from  behaving  like  wild  animals, 
the  railways  will  be  the  chief  agent  in  the  development 
of  their  country  along  the  most  promising  lines. 

Every  one  knows  how  much  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway  did  for  the  Dominion.  It  is  quite  likely  that 
the  railways  of  Mexico  may  do  as  much  for  her.  Here 
is  a  land  which  could  support  sixty  instead  of  sixteen 
millions  of  people.  Here  are  500,000  square  miles 
ready  to  bring  forth  their  increase  as  soon  as  they  are 
tilled.  The  best  hope  of  improving  the  peon  is  by 
giving  him  an  example  of  industry  and  energy  and 
common  sense.  The  railways  can  help  to  do  this  by 
bringing  in  settlers  of  more  vigorous  blood.  They 
are  depressed  at  present,  but  they  will  some  day  be 
as  valuable  as  any  railways  in  the  world. 


XXIII 

THE   CHARACTER   OF  THE   MEXICAN 

I.  THE  INDIAN 

THERE  is  one  key,  and  one  only,  to  an  understand- 
ing of  the  Mexican  Indian.  That  key  is  to  realize  that 
understand  him  fully  one  never  can.  This  is  not  a 
paradox.  It  is  a  plain  statement  of  fact.  To  Euro- 
peans (of  course  I  include  Americans  in  that  term) 
the  Mexican  mind  is  a  mystery ;  just  as  much  a  mystery 
as  the  Chinese  mind.  All  Asiatics  are  a  puzzle  to  us. 
They  do  not  reason  as  we  do.  Their  standards  are 
different.  Their  minds  are  divided  into  compartments, 
it  appears.  Whether  the  Indians  who  peopled  Mexico 
before  the  Spaniards  came  were  descended  from 
Asiatic  immigrants,  or  whether  Asia  was  invaded  in 
the  twilight  of  the  world  by  races  from  the  American 
continent,  no  one  can  yet  tell.  But  clearly  the 
Mexicans  are  "  Asiatic  "  in  the  sense  that  they  and 
the  peoples  of  Asia  had  common  ancestry. 

One  might  be  forced  to  this  conclusion  by  the 
prevalence  in  Mexico  of  the  Chinese  and  Japanese 
and  Burmese  types  of  face.  When  I  saw  the  Twenty- 
ninth  Regiment,  the  most  trusted  of  all,  on  parade  in 
Mexico  City,  I  cried  out — and  a  British  officer  who 
was  with  me  felt  at  the  same  instant  the  same  impulse 
of  speech— "They  might  be  Japanese."  Beetle- 
browed,  with  bright  eyes  set  in  expressionless  faces; 
Q  225 


226  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

stocky,  short  of  stature,  firmly  set  upon  their  feet, 
they  proclaimed  an  unmistakable  relationship.  It 
is  not  often  that  one  sees  so  many  of  the  same  type 
together,  but  in  almost  all  parts  of  the  country  one 
notices  frequently  peons  who  might  be  Orientals.  A 
Tehuantepec  woman  smoking  a  cigar  could  pass  easily 
for  "  the  Burmese  girl  a-sitting "  on  the  road  to 
Mandalay.  Watch  labourers  in  linen  drawers  trotting 
about  their  tasks  with  a  sullen  alacrity  :  you  could 
fancy  yourself  in  China  or  Japan.  Nor  is  it  only 
among  the  lower  class  that  Oriental  features  are  com- 
mon. General  Huerta,  himself  a  pure  Indian,  might, 
if  he  were  dressed  in  Mandarin's  robes,  be  mistaken 
for  a  genuine  wearer  of  the  Yellow  Jacket. 

And  this  cousinship  with  the  Far  East,  which  is 
suggested  by  facial  resemblance,  becomes  doubly 
certain  when  Mexican  mental  characteristics  are 
studied.  Those  who  have  been  longest  in  the  country 
are  those  who  say  they  know  the  people  least.  They 
are  a  people  full  of  contradictions.  For  example, 
nearly  every  Briton  or  American  in  Mexico  says 
flatly  that  all  Mexicans  are  dishonest.  "  Wouldn't 
trust  any  of  them.  Crooked  all  the  time."  Yet  I 
have  found  that  nearly  every  Briton  and  American 
has  found  one  Mexican  at  least  whom  he  can  trust 
implicitly.  In  offices,  on  ranches,  on  farms,  there  are 
natives  to  whom  everything  is  confided,  and  most  of 
them  are  faithful  to  their  charge.  A  ranchero  from 
Texas  who  had  been  assuring  me  that  every  Mexican 
was  a  born  liar  and  thief,  remarked  casually  later  on 
that,  when  he  went  away,  he  put  everything  in  charge 
of  "  old  Trinidad,"  who  looked,  after  his  interests 
as  Well  as  he  could  himself.  An  Englishman  who 
solemnly  warned  me  against  ever  trusting  a  Mexican, 


THE   CHARACTER   OF  THE   MEXICAN     227 

pointed  out  to  me  next  day  a  young  man  in  his  em- 
ployment, in  whose  keeping,  he  said,  he  would  gladly 
and  confidently  leave  all  he  possessed  in  the  world. 

These  trusted  Mexicans  are  generally  pure  Indians. 
They  may  not  be  able  to  write  or  read.  They  may 
keep  their  master's  accounts  by  tying  knots  in  a  piece 
of  string.  They  may  be  both  ignorant  and  incurious  of 
all  that  lies  beyond  the  range  of  their  daily  experience. 
But,  partly  because  they  are  attached  to  their  masters, 
partly  because  they  believe  that  any  delinquency  is 
certain  to  be  found  out  by  "  white  magic/'  they  prove 
themselves  good  and  faithful  servants.  "  Leave  their 
land  and  their  women  alone,  treat  them  decently  and 
above  all  justly,  keep  drink  away  from  them,  don't 
excite  them  by  putting  into  their  heads  ideas  for 
which  they  are  not  ready,  then  the  Indians  are  as 
good  creatures  as  you  will  find  anywhere."  That  is 
what  a  man  told  me  who  has  lived  among  them  and 
employed  them  for  a  great  many  years. 

Drink  is  their  curse.  Pulque,  mescal,  a  fiery  spirit 
distilled  from  a  cactus  root;  aguardiente,  the  brandy 
that  burns;  tekhuila  (tekeela),  which  is  fermented 
pulque — men  and  women  alike  are  eager  for  all  these 
poisons.  They  madden  themselves  also  with  a  drug 
called  marihuana.  This  has  strange  and  terrible 
effects.  It  appears  to  make  those  who  swallow  it  do 
whatever  is  uppermost  in  their  thoughts.  At  El  Paso 
a  peon  came  across  the  International  Bridge  firing  a 
rifle  at  all  and  sundry.  Much  talk  against  the 
Americans  and  a  dose  of  marihuana  had  decided  him 
to  invade  the  United  States  by  himself.  The  bridge- 
keeper  quickly  put  a  bullet  into  the  poor  wretch. 

Like  all  primitive  races  the  Indians  lack  self-control 
in  gambling  as  well  as  in  the  use  of  intoxicants.  At 


228  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

every  fiesta  crowds  gather  round  games  of  chance  at 
which  the  "  bank  "  is  bound  to  win.  I  made  a  round 
of  gambling  saloons  in  Guadalajara  one  night.  It 
seemed  impossible  that  any  people  could  consent  so 
cheerfully  to  be  fleeced.  One  green  table  had  on  its 
partitions  pictures  of  animals  instead  of  numbers. 
When  the  stakes  had  been  placed,  the  proprietor 
looked  to  see  which  animal  had  been  most  lightly 
backed,  fired  with  an  air-gun  at  one  of  a  set  of  little 
doors  in  a  cupboard  at  the  end  of  the  room,  and  the 
animal  he  wanted  came  out !  Small  wonder  that  such 
an  ingenious  folk  are  peculiarly  susceptible  to  the 
influence  of  inflated  language.  They  are  in  all  essentials 
children,  subject  to  the  most_sudden  changes,  capricious, 
unstable,  :%ery  easily  moved. 

Yet  pleasant  rhildreikJtoQ  1  _In  their  native  con- 
dition  they  are  courteous,  fond  of  Animals,  Jond  of 
flowers.  A  smile  goes  further  in  Mexico  than  in  any 
country  I  know.  They  respond  quickly  to  kindness, 
even  to  common  politeness.  In  the  street  one  day  I 
picked  up  a  hammer  which  had  been  dropped  by  two 
masons  working  inside  a  window  a  little  way  from 
the  ground.  They  overwhelmed  me  with  the  most 
gracious  smiles  and  expressions  of  thanks.  Yet  those 
same  men  would  have  cheerfully  killed  me,  and  even 
tortured  me  in  the  most  hideous  fashion,  if  an  anti- 
foreign  riot  had  started,  as  many  thought  it  would  at 
that  time. 

In  the  same  way,  though  they  like  petting  animals, 
they  do  not  look  after  them.  Dogs  and  cats  have  to 
pick  up  their  own  living,  and  are  most  of  them  miserably 
thin.  An  acquaintance  of  mine  in  a  small  town  had 
six  puppies  on  his  hands,  and  told  an  Indian  woman 
they  were  to  be  dro wned.  She  was  genuinely  grieved 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE  MEXICAN    229 

and  asked  if  he  would  give  them  to  her.  "  What,  all  ?  " 
"  Yes,  all,"  though  she  had  two  dogs  already.  He 
sent  the  puppies  to  her.  Five  died  from  sheer  neglect. 
Another  man  complained  to  me  that  his  Indian  neigh- 
bour's mules,  which  were  never  fed,  ate  his  family's 
washing.  It  appears  to  be  the  general  belief  in  Mexico 
that  mules  can  exist  on  a  diet  of  rocks  and  tin  cans. 

Nor  is  it  only  neglect  from  which  animals  suffer. 
They  are  often  horribly  ill-treated,  not  from  cruelty, 
but  from  lack  of  sympathetic  imagination.  Mexicans 
are  not  disgusted  by  the  sight  of  the  gored  horses  in 
bull-fighting,  their  national  pastime.  Cock-fighting  is 
practised  openly.  They  work  horses  and  donkeys 
with  the  most  horrible  sores  upon  them.  The  way 
they  carry  fowls  and  animals  to  market  is  often 
revolting.  Yet,  if  they  were  rated  for  inhumanity, 
they  would  be  astonished  and  aggrieved. 

The  same  limitation  of  mental  grasp  is  betrayed 
by  their  having  very  little  sense  of  time  or  distance, 
and  by  their  inattention  to  anything  which  does  not 
personally  concern  them.  I  asked  a  country  boy  who 
was  guiding  me  the  names  of  several  birds  we  saw. 
He  could  not  tell  me  one  of  them.  At  another  place 
a  dam  was  being  built ;  a  peon  living  close  by  knew 
nothing  whatever  about  it.  As  in  all  such  cases,  his 
answer  was  a  humble  "  How  could  I  know,  senor?  " 
Yet  he  knew  a  great  deal  about  the  habits  of  the 
wild-fowl  we  were  after.  Like  animals,  he  and  his 
kind  are  often  quick  and  clever  over  the  processes 
which  win  them  their  food. 

Like  animals  too,  they  only  do  work  enough  to 
supply  their  simplest  needs.  They  are  paid  very 
little,  that  is  true.  But  they  need  not  be  pitied  on 
that  score.  Their  dwellings  are  of  "  adobe  "  (mud) 


230  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

brick,  or  of  bamboo,  mere  huts  about  fourteen^  feet 
by  twelve;  the  roof  covered  with  wooden  shingles 
or  roughly  rush- thatched ;  the  floor  of  earth.  Their 
possessions  are  a  stove,  a  few  pots  and  pans,  a  pestle 
and  mortar,  a  rolling-pin  and  a  platter  for  the  making 
of  tortillas.  They  need  little  money  for  life  in  these 
conditions,  and  few  of  them  show  any  desire  for 
change.  If  they  are  paid  more,  they  work  less.  The 
only  way  to  get  more  out  of  them  is  to  multiply  their 
needs,  induce  them  to  save  up  for  gramophones  and 
sewing-machines,  set  the  fashion  among  them  of 
wearing  clothes,  boots,  watches;  persuade  them  to 
sleep  in  beds,  sit  on  chairs,  eat  off  plates  and  live  in 
houses  instead  of  "  pigging  it  "  in  hovels.  That  is 
the  process  glibly  called  civilization  :  no  doubt  it  will 
be  applied  in  course  of  years. 

Whether  it  will  improve  the  Indian  is  another 
question.  Many  who  know  him  think  it  will  be  his 
ruin.  At  present  many  tribes  command  respect  by 
their  fine  physique  and  noble  bearing.  The  Aztecs 
of  the  Valley  of  Mexico,  ground  down  into  national 
degradation  by  Spanish  tyranny,  have  a  shrinking 
air  of  melancholy  remembrance.  But  that  is  excep- 
tional. Most  of  the  Indians  on  their  own  tierras,  to 
which  they  are  deeply  attached,  and  which,  however 
far  they  wander,  draw  them  back  from  time  to  time, 
are  people  in  whom  there  is  much  to  like  and  to  admire. 

Transplant  them  into  towns,  give  them  the  idea 
that  they  are  "  as  good  as  any  one  else,"  inflame  them 
with  abuse  of  the  rich  or  the  foreigner,  smear  a  little 
miscalled  "  education  "  upon  them,  and  they  quickly 
deteriorate.  Though  their  religion  is  little  different 
from  the  idolatry  which  their  ancestors  practised,  it 
must  have  some  restraining,  stimulating  effect.  See 


THE   CHARACTER   OF  THE   MEXICAN    231 

them  kneeling  with  widely  outstretched  arms  before 
the  Blessed  Sacrament,  or  toiling  on  their  knees  up  a 
stony  steep  to  a  place  of  pilgrimage,  and  it  is  impossible 
to  doubt  this.  Take  religion  away,  which  "  educa- 
tion," as  a  rule,  effectually  does,  and  supply  nothing 
in  its  place ;  the  result  can  be  foreseen. 

A  few  raise  themselves  in  the  scale  of  labour  and 
to  a  higher  standard  of  living.  They  are  often  clever 
artisans,  mechanics,  masons,  carpenters,  electricians, 
and  so  on.  Their  children  wear  shoes  and  stockings, 
may  be  sent  to  some  third-rate  school  in  the  United 
States,  grow  up  into  the  middle  class.  But  of  the 
mass  of  town  Indians  it  may  be  said  that  their  last 
state  is  worse  in  every  way  than  that  from  which 
they  were  taken.  It  is  no  use  supposing  that  Indians 
can  be  developed  en  masse  into  Europeans  by  being 
"  educated  " ;  still  less  can  they  be  expected  for  many 
years  to  come  either  to  understand  or  to  make  use 
of  a  constitution  on  European  lines. 

II.  THE  MEXICAN  PROPER 

Between  the  mass  of  Indian  peons  in  Mexico  and 
the  few  aristocrats  who  still  claim  pure  Spanish 
descent  come  the  half-castes^  If  at  this  time  of  day 
any  persuasion  were  needed,  ift^  would  persuade  one 
that  the  mingling  of  races  isa1"  crime,.  They  have 
inherited  the  vices  of  both  Spaniard  and  Indian  without 
any  of  their  virtues.  Xnev  nave  neither  the  Spaniard's 
dignity  nor  the  Indian's  simplicity.  They  are  proud 
without  having  anything  to  be"  proud  of ;  punctilious 
over  trifles,  but  casual  in  matters  of  moment ;  cowards 
both  physical  and  moral,  in  spite  of  their  braggadocio  ; 
mean  and  crafty  and  "  crooked  "  beyond  belief.  "  A 


232  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

Mexican  would  always  rather  earn  fifty  cents  by  a 
trick  than  a  dollar  by  honest  work."  That  sums  them 
up  not  unfairly. 

They  practise  fraud  in  the  smallest  as  well  as  in 
the  largest  affairs.  Honest  Ministers  and  Government 
officials  are  exceptional.  At  Vera  Cruz  lately  a  small 
steamer  was  purchased  for  military  use.  The  price 
was  55,000  pesos  (£5,500).  The  bill  was  made  out  for 
more  than  twice  as  much.  A  certain  foreigner  in 
Mexico  City  had  a  claim  against  the  Government  for 
£2,800.  He  could  not  get  paid.  At  last  he  offered 
to  give  £1,000  of  it  to  a  very  high  official.  He  received 
his  money  at  once.  Such  dishonesty  runs  all  through, 
down  to  the  railway  passengers,  who  travel  without 
tickets  and  tell  pitiful  stories  to  kind-hearted  conduc- 
tors, while  they  have  money  in  their  pockets  all  the 
time. 

Another  trick  is  to  offer  a  conductor  a  large  note 
for  a  small  fare,  and  when  he  cannot  change  it  to  say 
airily,  "  Next  time."  One  American  conductor  on 
whom  this  had  been  played  more  than  once  by  the 
same  man  punished  him  in  the  end.  He  wrapped 
up  in  a  newspaper  all  the  copper  coins  he  took,  until 
he  had  enough  to  change  a  25-peso  (£2  los.)  note. 
When,  as  he  expected,  the  note  was  offered,  he  took 
it  and  gave  the  astonished  Mexican  the  newspaper 
parcel. 

The  manager  of  a  factory  near  Orizaba  told  me  it 
was  hopeless  to  try  and  stop  pilfering  by  the  workers, 
and  almost  hopeless  to  seek  for  Mexican  cashiers  at 
once  competent  and  honest.  When  they  do  not  steal, 
they  are  usually  muddle-headed.  One  hotel  in  which 
I  stayed  had  made  the  experiment  of  engaging  a 
Mexican  to  keep  the  books.  The  accounts  he  presented 


THE   CHARACTER  OF  THE   MEXICAN    233 

caused  an  uproar.  He  had  them  all  muddled  up.  He 
was  discharged,  arid  the  whole  work  had  to  be  done 
over  again. 

Of  their  personal  dignity  the  Mexicans  are  very 
jealous — before  witnesses;  but  even  the  highly-placed 
may  be  talked  to  with  the  utmost  frankness  in  private. 
In  the  presence  of  others  they  must  be  addressed  as 
if  they  were  beyond  the  reach  of  suspicion  and  deserved 
the  highest  consideration.  A  labourer  will  never 
forget  or  forgive  being  rated  before  his  fellows.  The 
way  to  reprimand  him  without  filling  his  mind  with 
murderous  thoughts  is  to  do  it  chafnngly.  Good 
humour  is  very  necessary  in  handling  them,  and  a 
cynical  tolerance.  That  is  why  Englishmen  succeed 
better  than  Americans,  as  a  rule.  The  American  is 
inclined  to  be  impatient,  to  expect  too  much,  to  lose 
his  temper.  He  often  neglects  the  small  courtesies 
to  which  in  Mexico  so  much  importance  is  attached. 

These  are  apt,  it  is  true,  to  be  annoying.  A  servant 
will  not  fail  to  inquire  in  the  morning,  "  How  did  you 
pass  the  night?"  The  most  casual  introduction  is 
followed  by  a  murmured  flow  of  honorific  phrases. 
Even  telephone  conversations  open  with  a  mutual 
twitter  of  politeness  which  to  Anglo-Saxon  ears  sounds 
like  foolish  waste  of  time.  A  friend  of  mine,  exas- 
perated by  hearing  one  of  his  clerks  invariably  inquire 
over  the  wire  after  the  health  of  each  member  of  a 
family  before  he  got  to  business,  suggested  to  him 
that  he  might  confine  himself  to  what  he  really  wanted 
to  say.  "  I  am  as  well  educated  as  you  are/1  retorted 
the  boy  (meaning  "  better  educated  ")  and  flung  out 
of  the  office.  In  order  to  get  communication  quickly 
it  is  advisable  always  to  address  the  telephone  girl  as 
"  senorita,"  and  to  ask  her  if  she  will  "  do  you  the 


234  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

favour  "  to  put  you  through.  Facile  to  say  that  all 
this  lip-service  "  means  nothing/5  But  it  certainly 
makes  Mexico  a  pleasant  country  for  the  stranger, 
and  in  any  case  it  always  eases  life  to  fall  in  with  the 
habits  of  people  whose  guest  you  happen  to  be. 

Neither  Spaniards  nor  Indians  lack  courage.  They 
can  die  bravely.  At  Monterrey  I  saw  peon  soldiers 
walk  calmly  across  a  fire-swept  square.  They  knew, 
no  doubt,  what  bad  shots  the  men  on  the  other  side 
were,  but  still,  when  bullets  are  zipping  through  the 
air,  it  is  not  easy  to  be  unconcerned.  A  finer  quality 
of  courage  than  that  was  displayed  by  a  group"  of  boys 
of  good  Spanish  families  in  Monterrey,  who  were 
captured  by  Orosco  and  shot  because  they  would  not 
cry  "  Viva  Carranza  "  and  abjure  their  cause.  It  was 
not  lack  of  imagination  but  sheer  grit  which  made 
them  brave.  The  mestizo,  on  the  other  hand,  is  usually 
afraid.  In  a  train  one  day  a  few  rebels  came  through 
demanding  that  revolvers  should  be  given  up;  they 
needed  them.  The  Mexicans  who  wore  them  could 
not  unbuckle  the  cases  from  their  hips  fast  enough. 
A  short,  square  American  railway-man  sat  among 
them.  "  Have  you  a  pistol,  senor?  "  he  was  asked. 
"  Yes,"  he  said  grimly,  "  and  if  you  want  it,  you'll 
have  to  take  it."  The  rebels  looked  at  him,  and  left 
him  alone. 

Even  in  large  bodies  Mexicans  are  easy  to  overawe. 
In  the  city  of  Guadalajara  there  was  a  revolutionary 
outbreak  which  assumed  an  anti-foreign  complexion. 
There  were  no  local  grievances  to  speak  of,  so  the 
agitators  stirred  the  people  up  with  lurid  accounts 
of  the  killing  of  a  Mexican  in  Texas.  A  crowd  soon 
came  together,  and  went  about  threatening  foreigners' 
houses.  Around  one  they  became  violent,  so  the 


THE   CHARACTER   OF  THE   MEXICAN    235 

householder  fired  into  them  from  his  roof.  One  man 
was  killed.  The  crowd  melted  away.  The  trouble 
was  over. 

There  was  a  ludicrous  example  of  the  want  of  pluck 
both  among  citizenfolk  and  among  the  rebels  at  a 
town  in  Michoacan.  One  day  a  small  band  of  Revol- 
tosos  armed  with  machetes  (knives)  held  up  the  place, 
"  borrowed  "  £500  from  the  leading  people,  and  carried 
off  all  the  fire-arms  they  could  collect.  Shortly  after 
this  four  Americans  arrived  and  found  the  towns- 
people terribly  perturbed.  The  rebels  were  threatening 
another  visit,  demanding  another  £500.  The  town 
was  a  town  of  over  a  thousand  inhabitants.  There 
must  have  been  in  it  at  least  150  able-bodied  men,  and 
the  "  Bandidos,"  as  they  called  the  enemy,  numbered 
less  than  thirty.  Yet  it  never  occurred  to  the  able- 
bodied  townsmen  to  resist.  The  Americans  were  more 
enterprising.  They  had  a  message  sent  out  to  say 
that  a  large  number  of  "  Gringoes  "  had  come  into  the 
place  and  were  determined  to  fight.  The  messenger 
was  told  to  add  on  his  own  account  that  the  Gringoes 
were  looking  forward  to  the  battle.  The  town  was 
not  troubled  any  more. 

Along  with  this  unreadiness  to  risk  their  skins  goes 
a  bombastic  exaggeration  of  dangers.  From  a  place 
called  Wadley  in  the  State  of  San  Luis  Potosi  there 
rode  out  one  day  a  body  of  Rurales  (military  police) 
to  hunt  out  a  rebel  commando.  They  took  no  pre- 
cautions, sent  ahead  no  scouts.  Suddenly  they  were 
fired  on  at  very  close  range  from  the  roadside  and 
several  were  killed.  There  were  only  a  few  rebels, 
but  the  Rurales  galloped  back  and  told  how  they  had 
fought  desperately  against  tremendous  odds  ! 

Worse  than  cowardly  was  the  behaviour  of  another 


236  THE   REAL  MEXICO 

troop  of  Rurales  sent  to  guard  a  mine  in  the  State  of 
Jalisco.  When  a  band  of  Insurrectos  came  in  sight, 
an  Englishman  named  Harrison,  who  was  in  charge 
of  the  property,  asked  them  whether  they  would  stay 
and  fight,  or  run.  They  said  they  would  run.  Mr. 
Harrison  therefore  met  the  rebels  when  they  arrived, 
and  was  making  terms  with  them  when  the  Rurales 
opened  fire  from  a  hill  above  and  killed  four  men. 
Never  was  man  nearer  death  than  the  Englishman  in 
that  hour.  Fortunately  he  was  known  to  some  of  the 
rebels,  who  vouched  for  him,  saying  that  he  could 
not  be  involved  in  such  treachery.  His  life  was  there- 
fore spared.  The  Rurales  were  chased  into  the  woods, 
several  were  killed,  the  rest  were  deprived  of  their 
rifles  and  ammunition,  and  even  of  their  clothes.  Then 
they  sent  in  a  report  saying  they  had  defeated  the 
rebels  severely;  and  that  report  appeared  in  the 
newspapers.  So  is  the  country  deceived. 

The  nerves  even  of  Mexican  officers  are  apt  to  give 
way.  At  Nuevo  Laredo  one  night,  while  I  was  there, 
a  Major  who  had  been  in  action  and  had  lost  about 
forty  men,  was  so  shaken  that  when  he  got  back  to 
barracks  he  changed  into  civilian  clothes,  walked 
down  to  the  Rio  Grande,  waded  across  in  the  darkness 
and  disappeared  into  the  United  States.  It  is  cowar- 
dice which  makes  the  mass  of  Mexicans  refuse  to  take 
sides.  They  are  afraid  of  stepping  down  upon  the 
wrong  one.  Among  no  people  is  there  more  windy 
talk  of  patriotism.  Judging  by  the  number  of  statues 
to  be  seen  everywhere,  there  must  have  been  more 
"  patriots  "  to  the  square  mile  in  Mexico  than  in  any 
other  country  of  the  world.  Yet  example  and  precept 
are  alike  barren.  If  the  hacendados  had  supplied 
themselves  with  arms  and  ammunition  and  taught 


THE   CHARACTER  OF  THE  MEXICAN    237 

• 

their  peons  to  use  them,  as,  for  example,  the  El  Oro 
mining  companies,  the  Necaxa  Electric  Power  Works, 
and  other  foreign  employers  have  done,  they  would 
not  now  be  wailing  their  heavy  losses,  and  the  civil 
war  might  be  over.  Mexicans  themselves  admit 
regretfully  that  "  there  is  no  patriotism  among  us." 
They  forget  that  this  virtue,  like  charity,  should 
"  begin  at  home." 

The  Oriental  nature  of  the  Mexican  appears  in  his 
treatment  of  women.  They  are  regarded  as  ministers 
to  his  comfort  and  his  pleasure,  and  they  seem  con- 
tented enough.  They  go  out  very  little.  In  the  plazas 
on  Sunday  evening,  and  in  many  towns  on  a  week 
night  as  well,  they  walk  round  and  round,  or  sit  in 
the  lamplight,  listening  to  the  band  (which,  as  a  rule, 
is  good,  for  to  this  extent  the  Mexicans  are  a  musical 
people).  Their  toilettes  are  made  with  elaborate  care, 
and  sometimes  with  taste.  Their  hair  is  dressed  to 
perfection.  In  a  small  town  with  no  other  evidence 
of  wealth,  this  is  surprising.  But  if  you  could  follow 
them  home,  you  would  find  that  many  of  them  lived 
in  conditions  not  far  removed  from  squalor.  The 
Mexican  woman  usually  spends  the  earlier  part  of  the 
day — the  whole  day  if  she  does  not  go  out  or  receive 
visitors — in  a  slovenly  wrapper. 

In  well-to-do  families  the  girls  are  usually  without 
any  occupation.  They  sit  about  for  hours,  unemployed, 
not  wanting  employment.  Their  thoughts  run,  and 
their  talk  pivots,  upon  Men.  Marriage  is  their  one 
idea.  After  marriage  they  cease  to  trouble  about 
their  appearance.  They  age  quickly  and  grow  stout. 
How  far  off  they  remain  from  the  habits  of  American 
and  European  women  may  be  judged  by  their  mourning 
customs.  For  at  least  six  months,  usually  for  a  year 


238  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

after  her  husband's  death,  a  widow  is  not  seen  in  the 
streets.  For  twelve  months  she  wears  heavy  crape, 
then  for  another  year  lighter  black,  then  for  a  further 
period  black  and  white. 

Many  women  still  keep  up  the  practice  of  driving 
in  closed  carriages,  which  in  the  glorious  Mexican 
climate  must  be  torture.  They  would  not  think  it 
seemly  to  take  the  air  in  what  American  slang  calls 
"  low-necked  "  vehicles.  "  Backward,"  indeed,  the 
Mexican  woman  must  seem  to  Europe  and  the  United 
States.  Yet  she  has  the  qualities  of  he*  defects  (if 
defects  they  be).  She  is  a  good  wife,  a  mother  loving 
and  beloved  by  all  her  children.  It  is  to  her  that  the 
intensity  of  Mexican  family  life  is  mainly  due.  The 
father  rules  in  appearance  as  an  autocrat  of  unchal- 
lenged authority.  The  mother  is  frequently  the  power 
behind  the  throne;  or,  if  it  be  truly  a  tyranny,  she 
softens  the  yoke  and  gives  Home  a  tender  magnetism 
which  never  fails. 

Gradually  influences  from  outside  are  modifying 
the  life  of  the  Mexican  upper  and  middle  classes.  The 
ascendancy  of  Senor  Limantour,  who  was  iivessence 
a  Frenchman,  did  a  great  deal  to  break  dowi^the 
feeling  that  "  what  was  good  enough  for  my  father 
ought  to  be  good  enough  for  me."  He  made  familiar 
the  European  idea  that  everything  should  be  done 
decently  and  in  order,  that  spaciousness  should  be 
aimed  at,  and  seemliness  without  and  within.  In  the 
capital  he  had  his  way.  At  all  events  the  outside  of 
the  platter  shines.  Slowly  other  cities  are  following 
the  lead.  Much  prejudice  still  persists,  though,  in 
favour  of  dirt  and  darkness  and  confusion.  The 
Government  telegraph  office  in  Monterrey,  a  dark 
little  dog-hole  up  a  stair,  is  disgraceful,  and  the  market 


THE   CHARACTER  OF  THE   MEXICAN     239 

of  that  prosperous  city  deserves  a  worse  epithet.  One 
night  I  passed  there  and  saw  hundreds  of  rats  scamper- 
ing fearless,  attracted  by  the  refuse.  A  petition  for 
meat-covers  was  signed  by  many  foreigners,  but  the 
Mayor  would  have  none  of  ".  this  new-fangled  fussiness." 
Yet  one  can  see  a  bright  side  even  to  the  Mexican's 
unwillingness  to  adopt  the  standards  which  civilization 
imposes.  In  more  civilized  countries  there  is  a  pretty 
clear  line  of  separation  between  classes.  In  Mexico 
the  relations  between  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men 
are  far  more  human  than  in  the  United  States  or  in 
England.  A  cabman  has  no  hesitation  in  asking  his 
fare  for  a  cigarette,  if  he  wants  one.  I  have  seen  a 
train  "  auditor "  (who  corresponds  roughly  to  an 
English  "  guard  ")  sit  down  by  an  officer  in  a  railway 
carriage,  and  neither  think  anything  of  it.  There  is 
scarcely  any  snobbery  in  Mexico;  that  is  one  reason 
for  its  being  such  a  pleasant  land  to  travel  through. 
The  same  is  true  of  Russia;  an  additional  argument 
in  favour  of  the  suggestion  I  have  already  made — 
that  these  two  countries  are — beneath  a  thin  crust  of 
modernity — in  much  the  same  stage  of  development — 
the  stage  through  which  Britain  passed  during  the 
Wars  of  the  Roses,  five  and  a  half  centuries  ago. 


XXIV 

THE   MEXICAN   AT   HOME 

ANGLO-SAXON  peoples  have  a  gift  for  home-making 
which  is  denied  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  It  is  especially 
denied  to  such  as  dwell  in  perpetual  hot  sunshine. 
These  do  not  need  homes  as  Anglo-Saxons  do,  in  chilly 
England,  for  example,  with  its  seven  months  of  long, 
dark  evenings.  Yet  to  Anglo-Saxons  in  a  hot  country 
the  climate  makes  no  difference.  They  must  have 
homes,  sunshine  or  no  sunshine.  They  have  certain 
definite  ideas  of  comfort  which  they  insist  upon  carry- 
ing into  effect,  and  by  their  own  standards  they  judge 
all  other  people's  houses.  That  is  why  they  pronounce, 
and  why  I  pronounce,  Mexican  homes  comfortless. 
To  our  eyes  they  are  stiff  and  cold  and  uninhabitable. 
But  it  is  quite  possible  that  Mexicans  might  not  like 
ours. 

The  first  requisite  for  being  comfortable  in  any  home 
is  a  certain  untidiness.  No  Mexican  house  is  untidy — 
I  speak  now  of  what  would  in  England  be  called 
"  gentlemen's  houses."  The  Indians  live  mostly  in 
wooden  "  shacks  "  or  flimsy  huts  which  they  make 
themselves.  Let  me  quote  a  description  from  Viva 
Mexico,  one  of  the  best  books  ever  written  about  this 
or  any  other  country — 

"  A  small  inclosure  of  bamboo,  fourteen  feet  by 
twelve  perhaps,  the  steep,  pointed  roof  covered  with 
rough  hand-made  shingles  of  a  soft  wood  that  soon 


THE   MEXICAN   AT   HOME  241 

rots  and  leaks.  The  bamboo,  being  no  more  than  a 
lattice,  affords  but  slight  protection  from  a  slanting 
rain  and  none  whatever  from  the  wind ;  the  dirt  floor, 
therefore,  is  damp  everywhere,  and  near  the  walls, 
muddy.  At  one  end  is  a  '  brasero/  not  the  neat,  tiled 
affair  for  charcoal,  with  holes  on  top  and  draughts 
in  the  side,  that  one  sees  in  towns,  but  a  kind  of  box 
made  of  logs,  raised  from  the  ground  on  rough  legs 
and  filled  with  hard  earth.  A  small  fire  of  green 
wood  smoulders  in  the  centre  of  this,  filling  the  room 
from  time  to  time  with  blinding  smoke,  and  around 
it  are  three  or  four  jars  of  coarse  brown  pottery,  and 
a  thin  round  platter  of  unglazed  earthenware  on 
which  are  baked  the  '  tortillas.'  Near  by  is  a  black 
stone  with  a  slight  concavity  on  its  upper  surface 
and  a  primitive  rolling-pin  of  the  same  substance 
resting  upon  it.  On  the  floor  in  the  corner  are  some 
frayed  '  petates/  thin  mats  woven  of  palm  or  rushes. 
This  is  all,  and  this  is  home.  At  night  the  family 
huddles  together  for  warmth  with  nothing  but  the 
'  petates '  between  them  and  the  damp  ground. 
They  sleep  in  their  clothes  and  try  to  cover  themselves 
with  their  well-worn  '  sarapes  '  (blankets)." 

That  conveys,  I  think,  an  exaggerated  impression 
of  discomfort.  In  a  cold  or  damp  climate  such  a 
dwelling  would  be  utter  misery.  The  climate  of 
Mexico  is  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year  hot  and 
dry.  On  the  high  table-lands  the  nights,  it  is  true,  are 
chilly;  but  I  have  slept  in  huts  with  only  a  light 
rain-coat  around  me  and  not  felt  the  need  of  any  other 
covering.  The  Indians,  like  all  other  peoples  in 
a  state  of  nature,  adapt  their  houses  to  their  conditions 
of  existence. 

So   do   Mexicans   who   belong  to   the   comfortable 
R 


242  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

class.  You  can  see  by  the  look  of  a  Mexican  home 
that  they  spend  a  great  part  of  their  lives  in  the  open 
air.  In  the  salon  the  chairs  with  their  backs  to  the 
wall  look  like  a  well-drilled  regiment.  The  furniture 
is  usually  under  covers ;  it  is  arranged  with  a  precision 
which  gives  one  an  icy  feeling  round  the  heart.  On 
the  walls  will  probably  be  pictures.  Let  us  not  speak 
of  them,  but,  like  Virgil  and  Dante,  "  glance  and  pass 
by."  Very  unconventional  householders  may  have 
some  photographs  showing,  and  even  a  few  books, 
not,  of  course,  lying  about,  but  in  a  case  or  on  a  shelf. 
The  ornaments  are,  in  their  horrid  ugliness,  like  an 
echo  of  our  worst  Victorian  period.  I  cannot  swear 
that  I  have  seen  wax  flowers  under  glass,  but  they  are 
just  what  one  would  look  round  for.  The  rooms  do 
not  seem  to  be  lived  in.  How  could  one  live  in  them  ? 
One  would  petrify.  They  are  like  "  show  rooms  "  in 
some  "  great  house  "  through  which  a  glibly  respectable 
parrot-housekeeper  leads  parties  of  gaping  tourist- 
visitors. 

The  explanation  is,  I  think,  that  Mexican  men  do 
not  live  much  inside  their]  houses,  and  that  the  ladies 
spend  their  time  looking  out  of  window,  almost  their 
only  recreation.  If  they  have  balconies,  they  stand 
on  them,  chattering  and  giggling  like  pretty  school 
misses,  "  quizzing  "  .all  who  pass  by.  The  windows 
on  the  street  level  are  heavily  barred.  Behind  the 
bars  one  often  catches,  as  one  passes,  the  gleam  of 
lustrous,  dark  eyes,  the  perfume  of  thickly  piled-up 
dark  hair;  or  else  one  hears  soft  whispering  voices 
and,  turning,  sees  as  it  were  a  cageful  of  charming 
girls.  Outside  these  barred  windows  the  lovers  of 
these  girls  come  to  court  them,  in  the  Spanish  phrase, 
"  to  play  bear,"  which  means  hanging  about  for  hours, 


THE  MEXICAN  AT  HOME  243 

on  the  chance  of  getting  a  smile,  a  whisper,  a  hand  to 
kiss.  It  strikes  Europeans  as  a  mode  of  love-making 
which  makes  the  man  look  ridiculous,  but  it  is  general 
in  Mexico,  except  among  the  wealthiest  class,  whose 
young  men  and  young  women  have  better  opportunities 
for  getting  to  know  one  another.  In  this  class,  too, 
one  meets  people  whose  homes  are  more  in  the  comfort- 
able American  style,  people  who  have  been  educated 
in  the  United  States  or  in  England.  But  the  mass  of 
well-to-do  Mexicans,  even  some  of  the  very  richest, 
live  in  rooms  such  as  I  have  described. 

Mexican  clubs  are  the  same.  No  lounging  chairs, 
no  tables  littered  with  magazines.  The  rooms,  all 
plush  and  mirrors,  remind  one  of  those  gloomy  parlours 
where  the  dentist  keeps  you  waiting  in  company  with 
Punch's  Almanack  a  year  old.  You  marvel  that 
any  one  could  bear  to  sit  in  them,  and  then  you  find 
that  they  don't.  There  is  a  bar  and  a  bar-saloon. 
That  is  where  the  members  are  to  be  found,  some  play- 
ing dominoes  sedately,  some  drinking  noisily  in  groups. 
There  is  generally  a  ball-room,  too,  and  here  the  club 
entertains.  Always  there  are  certain  rooms  in  which 
on  certain  occasions  ladies  are  welcomed.  The 
Mexican  notion  of  club-life  is  strangely  unlike  ours  ! 
In  all  the  cities,  however,  there  are  pleasant,  hospitable 
foreign  clubs  after  the  Anglo-Saxon's  own  heart, 
oases  of  comfort  and  good  fellowship  to  which  in 
memory  the  traveller  returns  again  and  again  with 
feelings  of  gratitude  for  their  restful,  kindly  shelter. 

Yet  there  is  one  unfailing  charm  about  Mexican 
houses.  That  is  the  charm  of  flowers.  All  Mexicans 
love  flowers.  Their  homes  usually  present  to  the 
street  bare,  unlovely  walls,  but  very  often  you  get 
a  glimpse  of  a  patio  where  the  sunlight  flickers  on 


244  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

green  leaves  and  vivid  blossoms.  Always  you  may 
count  upon  such  an  interior  even  if  you  cannot  see 
it.  These  peeps  into  gay  garden-courtyards  are  what 
I  remember  when  I  think  of  Mexican  streets.  It  is 
the  custom  to  build  houses  round  a  green  plot  open  to 
the  sky.  Sometimes  there  is  a  loggia  round  this, 
a  loggia  into  which  all  the  rooms  open  (there  being  no 
"  upstairs  "),  and  where  the  household  lives  in  warm 
weather,  cooled  by  the  plash  and  tinkle  of  a  fountain 
in  the  centre.  Or  else  the  ground  floor  may  be  given 
up  to  offices  or  stabling,  and,  mounting  a  stairway, 
you  come  to  a  broad  balcony  screened  from  the  sun 
by  thick  trails  of  flowering  creeper.  Delicious  to  wake 
up  at  half-past  seven  of  a  November  morning  and 
luxuriate  in  hot  sunshine  as  you  go  across  the  patio 
or  round  the  balcony  to  your  bath. 

Most  hotels  are  built  more  or  less  on  this  plan, 
which  almost  makes  up  for  the  hardness  of  their 
pillows.  The  Mexican  idea  of  a  pillow  is  that  it 
should  by  its  extreme  discomfort  prevent  you  for  as 
long  as  possible  from  falling  asleep.  Otherwise  hotels 
are  tolerable.  The  food  is  usually  pleasant  enough. 
Mexican  dishes  are  always  highly  seasoned,  sometimes 
painfully  "  hot  i'  the  mouth."  But  a  "  mote,"  which 
is  a  fowl  or  a  turkey  served  with  a  thick,  dark-brown, 
slightly  sweet  sauce  all  over  it,  is  as  good  as  any  curry. 
They  have  attractive  modes  of  cooking  pork,  for  those 
who  are  hardy  enough  to  eat  it  in  Mexico.  There  is 
always  fruit  and  always  drinkable  coffee.  This  is  the 
land  of  coffee,  and  I  was  told  how  it  "  really  ought  to 
be  made."  A  small  quantity  of  coffee,  very,  very 
strong,  should  be  prepared  (of  course,  from  berries 
freshly  roasted  and  ground),  and  in  each  cup  a  little 
of  this  should  be  poured ;  the  cup  should  then  be  filled 


THE  MEXICAN  AT  HOME  245 

up  with  hot  water.  The  same  method  is  followed  with 
tea  in  Russia;  equally  good  results  follow. 

The  hotels  are  not  cheap.  From  ten  to  twelve 
shillings  is  the  usual  charge  for  a  room.  But  they  are 
clean,  as  a  rule,  even  those  in  small  places,  and  in 
towns  of  any  importance  sanitation  is  now  looked 
after,  which  removes  the  worst  horror  of  travel  in 
years  gone  by. 

Mexican  kitchens,  being  open  to  the  air,  like  the 
other  rooms,  are  fresh  and  light  and  appetizing. 
(I  speak  of  those  I  have  seen.)  Cooking  is  done  on 
a  "  brasero,"  a  charcoal  stove  in  the  centre  of  the 
kitchen  with  several  glowing  nests  in  it,  on  which 
several  pots  or  pans  can  simmer  or  fizzle  at  the  same 
time.  The  stove  is  on  one  side  hollowed  into  a  semi- 
circle ;  the  cook  stands  inside  this,  and  is  able  to  look 
after  all  the  operations  at  once.  The  cook  is  frequently 
a  "  Chino  "  (Chinaman).  Possibly  his  knowledge  of 
Spanish  is  limited  to  a  few  words,  yet  somehow  "  with 
nods  and  becks  and  wreathed  smiles  " — no  smile 
ever  deserved  Milton's  epithet  so  thoroughly  as  a 
Chinaman's  smile — a  system  of  communication  is 
established.  A  friend  of  mine  has  a  capital  "  Chino," 
who  for  a  long  time  could  only  say,  "  I  do'  know." 
This  was  his  reply  to  everything  that  was  said  to  him. 
It  was  necessary  to  discover  from  the  way  in  which  he 
said  it  whether  he  understood  or  not.  One  day  his 
mistress  gave  him  long  instructions  as  to  getting  his 
master  up  very  early  the  next  morning,  and  giving 
him  his  breakfast  so  that  he  might  catch  a  train  at 
dawn.  When  she  had  finished  the  Chinaman  said, 
"  Good-night,  lady."  That  was  all.  But  he  carried 
out  her  instructions  exactly. 

Woman  servants   are  called   "  criadas  "  and  wear 


246  THE   REAL   MEXICO 

their  hair  down,  either  in  tails  or  falling  loose  around 
their  shoulders.  They  can  be  trained  into  clever 
cooks,  neat  waitresses,  and  careful  housemaids,  but 
it  is  not  often  that  they  are  so  trained.  Much  patience 
is  needed.  It  is  useless  to  expect  too  much  of  them. 
If  they  are  scolded  or  worried,  they  simply  leave 
without  warning.  They  must  be  allowed  to  do  their 
work  more  or  less  in  their  own  way.  Certain  habits 
have  to  be  checked.  I  suppose  nearly  all  cooks  use 
their  fingers  to  test  the  temperature  of  soup.  Mexican 
servants  practise  even  more  unpleasant  tricks  until 
they  are  taken  in  hand. 

They  are  sometimes  inclined  to  pilfer,  more  from 
curiosity,  I  believe,  than  from  a  thieving  propensity. 
But  it  is  a  libel  to  call  them  all  dishonest,  as  many 
people  in  Mexico  do.  They  have  odd  ideas  which 
may  make  them  appear  dishonest  when  they  are  not 
so.  For  instance,  a  woman  who  washed  for  an  ac- 
quaintance of  mine  in  Mexico  City  told  him  one  day 
she  was  going  to  live  in  Toluca.  He  paid  her  and  said 
good-bye.  A  little  later  he  discovered  that  his  linen- 
press  was  short  of  several  sheets,  pillow-cases,  etc. ; 
he  also  missed  some  shirts.  Naturally  he  concluded 
that  the  washerwoman  had  stolen  them.  Three  months 
afterwards  she  called  at  his  office  and  said  that  she 
had  left  the  missing  articles  at  his  rooms  and  would 
he  please  pay  her?  She  had  taken  them  to  Toluca, 
washed  them,  and  kept  them  until  she  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  bring  them  back.  Time  meant  nothing  to 
her.  Besides,  "  he  had  so  many." 

That  is  the  kind  of  mentality  one  is  frequently  "  up 
against  "  in  Mexico.  It  is  useless  to  argue.  It  is 
worse  than  useless  to  be  angry,  for  the  poor  Mexican 
is  simply  bewildered.  The  only  thing  to  do  is  to  see 


2O 


Socorro  J. 


English  Miles 


so  100 


o  5o          100 


Mbmetres    II 
ZOO  3 


Figures    attached   to    names    of  mountains 

Railways  .**= 
Si&marii  .e  fatten 


no 


THE   MEXICAN   AT   HOME  247 

the  humour  of  it  and  smile.  Smile  when  you  are  told 
of  some  valued  piece  of  china  that  "  at  dawn  it  found 
itself  broken."  Smile,  although  you  know  for  certain 
that  your  coffee  and  sugar  are  supplied  regularly  to 
your  "  criada's  "  relations.  Even  when  you  are  sued 
for  defamation  of  character  by  a  servant  whom  you 
have  had  convicted  by  the  courts  of  theft  (this  actually 
happened),  smile. 

At  the  same  time,  however,  look  out  for  negro 
servants.  As  cooks  they  are  far  better  than  Chinamen, 
and  they  keep  a  house  cleaner  than  Mexicans  ever 
will.  They  are  faithful,  and  you  do  not  have  to  wonder 
always  what  they  are  thinking  about,  for  they  have 
not  the  duplex  Asiatic  mind.  They  have  to  be  paid 
more.  "  Criadas  "  seldom  earn  more  than  £24  a  year, 
and  sometimes  as  little  as  £10.  But  the  change 
will  be  worth  the  money. 

On  the  whole,  wages  are  moderate.  A  chauffeur, 
if  he  is  a  Mexican,  can  be  hired  for  £8  to  £10  a  month. 
A  Japanese  gardener  costs  about  half  that,  and  in 
this  land  of  gardens  a  gardener  you  must  have. 
Rents  are  high  in  the  cities,  but  the  cost  of  living 
is  less  than  in  the  United  States.  Many  Americans 
used  to  winter  in  Mexico,  partly  for  the  sake  of  the 
golden  warmth,  partly  to  save  money.  On  the  top 
of  all  her  other  losses,  the  country  is  suffering  from 
the  stoppage  of  its  yearly  stream  of  visitors.  Civil 
war  is  draining  away  all  its  resources,  ruining  Mexicans 
and  foreigners  alike. 


THE   END 


RICHARD  CLAY  &  SONS,  LIMITED, 

BRUNSWICK  STREET,  STAMFORD  STREET,  S.E., 

AND  BUNGAY  SUFFOLK. 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desk  of  any 
University  of  California  Library 

or  to  the 

NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
Bldg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

•  2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 
(510)642-6753 

•  1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing 
books  to  NRLF 

•  Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4 
days  prior  to  due  date. 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


APR  2  5  2004 


12,000(11/95) 


0898 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


C03520b571 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


I 


